SB 


UC-NRLF 


\v^ 


B   M   E73   170 


THE 


HORTICULTURE 


OF 


BOSTON  AND  VICINITY, 


MARSHALL     P.     WILDER 


TOLMAX  ,fc  \YIMTI:,  PKIXTERS,  as;;  AVASIIIXCITOX  STKEIOT,  JJOSTOX. 
1881. 

I 


PRESIDENT  OF   THE  AMEKCAK  POMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY 

AND 
PRESIDENT  Of  '.'ATES  AGRICULTURAL 


THE   HORTICDLTURE 


BOSTON  AND  VICINITY, 


BY 


MARSHALL  PINCKNEY  -WILDER, 

PBESIDEXT  or  THE  XEW  KNCLAND  HISTOIUC  GKNEALOUICAL 

S()<   II.TV,    BOSTON. 


SUBSTANTIALLY     THE     SAME     AS     THE     CHAPTER     PREPARED     FOR     THE 
BOSTON     MEMORIAL     SERIES,     VOL.     IV. 


FR. I -V-A.T  EXy^__I3 R I  IsT  T  E ID . 


TOLMAX  &  WHITE,  PRIXTERS,  SKI  WASHINGTON  STREET,  BOSTOX. 

1881. 


OF 


THE  HORTICULTURE  OF  BOSTON  AND  VICINITY.1 


By  MARSHALL  PINCKNEY  WILDER,  Ph.  D., 

PRESIDENT    OF  THE    NEW    ENGLAND    HISTORIC    GENEALOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


"Hail,  Horticulture!   Heaven-ordained, 

Of  every  art  the  source, 
Which  man  has  polished,  life  sustained, 

Since  time  commenced  his  course. 
Where  waves  thy  wonder-working  wand,  . 

What  splendid  scenes  disclose ; 
The  blasted  heath,  the  arid  strand, 

Outbloom  the  gorgeous  rose  !" — Fessenden. 

Boston  and  its  environs  have  been  famous  in  history 
as  the  battle  grounds  of  freedom  and  the  home  of  free 
schools;  famous  as  the  abode  of  high  culture  and  good 
taste,  and  equally  famous  for  elegant  gardens,  fine 
flowers  and  luscious  fruits.  Horticulture  embraces 
within  its  compass  not  only  fruits  and  flowers,  but 
whatever  pertains  to  ornamental  culture,  garden,  orchard 
and  landscape.  The  horticulture  of  Boston,  to  -whose 
shrine  its  votaries  have  brought  their* offerings,  and 
in  whose  temples  they  have  worshipped  for  half  a 
century,  has  embraced  not  only  the  city  but  its 
surroundings.  Horticulture  seems  to  have  been  the 
counterpart  of  a  high  civilization  in  all  ages,  forming 
in  its  study  and  practice  the  most  perfect  union  of  the 
most  useful  and  beautiful  art  that  mankind  has  ever 
known ;  and  this  seems  to  have  been  so  appreciated  by 
our  own  people  from  the  earliest  settlement  down  to 

1  Prepared  for  the  Boston  Memorial  Series,  Volume  IV. 


4  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

the  present  time.  As  to  the  fruits  of  this  region  previ- 
ous to  the  coming  of  the  colonists,  we  know  but  little.* 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  whether  Lief  and  Thorwald,  the 
Scandanavians,  did  or  did  not  land  on  our  shores  in 
the  tenth  century,  as  the  Sagas  have  it,  and  here  saw 
grapes  so  abundant  that  they  gave  this  land  the  name 
of  Vinland,  we  know  that  the  vine  was  found  on  our 
coast  by  Champlain,  six  centuries  after,  and  that  it 
prospers  through  twenty-five  degrees  of  latitude  ;  and, 
should  the  phylloxera  continue  its  devastations  in 
Europe,  our  continent  may  become  literally  the  Vine- 
land  of  the  world.  No  nation  possesses  such  wonder- 
ful resources  for  the  culture  of  fruits ;  no  people  have 
made  such  rapid  progress  in  the  science  of  Pomology ; 
and  to  Boston  and  vicinity  may  be  traced  primarily 
the  wide-spread  interest  in  Horticulture  that  now  per- 
vades our  continent.  Nor  has  this  enterprise  declined. 
Massachusetts  retains  her  renown  for  her  skill  in  horti- 
cultural science,  and  her  interest  in  its  advancement. 

The  earliest  account  that  we  have  of  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  New  England  is  given  by  the  pilgrims  at 
Plymouth,  where,  in  addition  to  Indian  corn  and  other 
grains  they  also  found  fruits  and  flowers  which  were 
indigenous  to  the  soil.  "  Here  are  grapes,"  wrote  Gov. 
Edward  Winslow,  in  1621,  "white  and  red,  and  very 
sweet  and  strong,  also ;  strawberries,  gooseberries, 
raspberries ;  plums  of  three  sorts,  white,  black,  and  red, 
being  almost  as  good  as  a  damson ;  abundance  of  roses, 
white,  red  and  damask,  single,  but  very  sweet."1 

The  first  orchard  of  which  we  have  any  account  in 
our  vicinity  was  that  of  the  Kev.  William  Blackstone 
(Blaxton),  planted  on  the  west  slope  of  Beacon  Hill,2 

*  See  Dr.  Asa  Gray's  chapter  in  Boston  Memorial,  Volume  I. 

1  Young's  Chronicle  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  234. 

2  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  I.,  p.  84. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  0 

near  Charles  Street,  being  a  portion  of  the  six  acres 
reserved  from  the  fifty  acres  which  he  sold  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Shawmut,  and  from  which  he  removed 
in  1634  to  what  is  now  Lonsdale,  Rhode  Island,  where 
may  still  be  seen,  near  his  favorite  resort,  "  Study  Hill," 
remains  of  trees  planted  by  him,  and  from  which  were 
disseminated  apples,  now  under  cultivation,  by  the  name 
of  Blackstone.  The  first  planting  of  fruits  by  the 
colonists  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  we  believe,  was  the 
orchard  of  Gov.  John  Endicott,  of  Salem,  about  the 
year  1628,  a  pear  tree  of  which  still  survives  and 
bears  fruit  at  the  present  time.  From  this  nursery  we 
find  that  as  late  as  1648  Endicott  sold  500  apple  trees 
to  William  Trask,  for  which  he  received  two  hundred 
and  fifty  acres  of  land,  an  acre  of  land  for  two  apple 
trees,  a  noble  illustration  of  the  appreciation  in  which 
fruits  were  held  by  the  colonists  at  that  time. 

The  planting  of  fruits  by  the  colonists  under  Gover- 
nor Winthrop,  was,  we  presume,  soon  after  their  arrival, 
or  the  year  1630,  for  we  find  in  the  outfits  of  their 
cargo,  seeds  and  stones  of  fruits  particularly  men- 
tioned. 

We  find  that,  next  to  Blackstone,  Governor  Winthrop 
was  the  most  prominent  in  the  horticulture  of  Boston, 
having,  in  addition  to  his  farms  at  Governor's  Island,  a 
garden  opposite  the  foot  of  School  street,  his  house 
being  a  little  north  of  the  Old  South  Church,  and  was 
demolished  by  the  British  in  1775.  Winthrop  had 
frequent  correspondence  with  Eudicott  in  regard  to 
fruit  trees,  as  had  his  son  John,  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut. Among  the  early  records  in  regard  to  the 
production  of  fruit  by  the  colonists,  is  an  account 
of  a  good  store  of  pippins  from  Governor  Winthrop's 
garden. 

From  the  early  settlements  on  our    coast  orchards 


b  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

and  gardens  were  considered  as  among  the  most  desir- 
able acquisitions  of  landholders.  Among  the  earliest 
of  which  we  have  notes  were  the  orchard  of  Blackstone, 
the  nurseries  of  Gov.  Endicott  at  Salem,  the  orchard  and 
vineyard  of  Gov.  Winthrop,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later  the  orchards  described  by  Paul  Dudley  in 
Roxbury,  the  orchards  and  nurseries  of  John  Hancock 
on  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  State  House,  and  of 
Judge  John  Lowell,  who  died  in  1802,  at  Koxbury, 
and  who  is  supposed  to  have  built  one  of  the  first 
greenhouses  in  this  part  of  the  country.  The  Judge 
was  father  of  John  Lowell,  the  distinguished  agricul- 
turist and  pomologist,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  here- 
after. 

The  colonial  legislature  granted  to  John  Winthrop, 
then  Governor  of  the  colony,  a  section  of  land  in  our 
harbor  known  as  Conant's  Island,  but  afterwards  as 
Governor's  Island,  on  condition  that  he  should  plant 
thereon  a  vineyard,  and  should  pay  as  rent  therefor  a 
hogshead  of  wine.  Whether  this  vineyard  was  planted 
or  not  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining,  but  the  con- 
tract was  afterwards  altered  to  make  the  rent  two 
bushels  of  apples  a  year,  one  for  the  Governor  and  one 
for  the  General  Court. 

What  the  intermediate  progress  of  horticulture  in  our 
vicinity  may  have  been  after  the  time  when  Endicott 
planted  his  pear  tree  at  Salem,  and  Winthrop  his  orchard 
on  Conant's  Island,  we  can  not  positively  determine. 
But  we  find  in  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions,  London, 
1734,"  a  paper  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society 
by  Hon.  Paul  Dudley,  of  Roxbury,  Chief  Justice  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, entitled  "  Some  Observations  on  the  Plants 
of  New  England,  with  Remarkable  Instances  of  the 
Power  of  Vegetation,"  which  gives  us  an  account  of  the 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  7 

size  and  culture  of  fruits  and  vegetables  growing  in 
Koxbury  in  1726,  as  follows: 

"  The  Plants  of  England,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Fields  and  Or- 
chards, as  those  of  the  Garden  that  have  been  brought  over  hither, 
suit  mighty  well  with  our  Soil,  and  grow  here  to  great  Perfection. 

u  Our  apples  are,  without  Doubt,  as  good  as  those  of  England, 
and  much  fairer  to  look  to,  and  so  are  the  Pears,  but  we  have  not 
got  all  the  Sorts. 

"  Our  Peaches  do  rather  excel  those  of  England,  and  then  we 
have  not  the  Trouble  or  Expense  of  Walls  for  them  ;  for  our  Peach 
Trees  are  all  Standards,  and  I  have  had  in  my  own  Garden  seven 
or  eight  Hundred  fine  Peaches  of  theRare-ripes,  growing  at  a  Time 
on  one  Tree. 

"  Our  people,  of  late  Years,  have  run  so  much  upon  Orchards, 
that  in  a  village  near  Boston,  consisting  of  about  forty  P'amilies, 
they  made  near  three  Thousand  Barrels  of  Cyder.  This  was  in  the 
Year  1721.  And  in  another  Town,  of  two  Hundred  Families,  in 
the  same  year  I  am  credibly  informed,  they  made  near  ten  Thousand 
Barrels.  Some  of  our  Apple  Trees  will  make  six,  some  have  made 
seven  Barrels  of  Cyder,  but  this  is  not  common ;  and  the  Apples 
will  yield  from  seven  to  nine  Bushels  for  a  Barrel  of  Cyder. 

"  A  good  Apple  Tree,  with  us,  will  measure  from  six  to  ten  Foot 
in  Girt.  I  have  seen  a  fine  Pearmain,  at  a  Foot  from  the  Ground, 
measure  ten  Feet  and  four  inches  round.  This  Tree,  in  one  Year, 
has  borne  thirty-eight  Bushels  (by  Measure)  of  as  fine  Pearmains, 
as  ever  I  saw  in  England.  A  Kentish  Pippin,  at  three  foot  from 
the  Ground,  seven  Foot  in  Girt ;  a  Golden  Rossetin,  six  Foot 
round.  The  largest  Apple  Tree  that  I  could  find,  was  ten  Foot 
and  six  Inches  round,  but  this  was  no  Graft. 

"  An  Orange  Pear  Tree  grows  the  largest  and  yields  the  fairest 
Fruit.  I  know  one  of  them  near  forty  Foot  high,  that  measures 
six  Foot  and  six  Inches  in  Girt,  a  Yard  from  the  Ground,  and  has 
borne  thirty  Bushels  at  a  Time  ;  I  have  a  Warden  Pear  Tree,  that 
measures  five  Foot  six  inches  round.  One  of  my  Neighbors  has  a 
Bergamot  Pear  Tree  that  was  brought  from  England  in  a  Box, 
about  the  Year  1643,  that  now  measures  six  Foot  about,  and  has 
borne  twenty-two  Bushels  of  fine  Pears  in  one  Year. 

"  Our  Peach  Trees  are  large  and  fruitful,  and  bear  commonly  in 
three  Years  from  the  Stone.  I  have  one  in  my  Garden  of  twelve 
Years  Growth,  that  measures  two  Foot  and  an  Inch  in  Girt  a  Yard 
from  the  Ground,  which,  two  Years  ago,  bore  me  near  a  Bushel  of 


8  THE    HORTICTJLTUKE    OF 

fine  Peaches.     Our  common  Cherries  are  not  so  good  as  the  Kentish 
Cherries  of  England,  and  we  have  no  Dukes  or  Heart  Cherries, 

unless  in  two  or  three  Gardens." 

« 

One  of  the  ancient  gardens  of  Boston  of  which  we  have 
a  distinct  record  is  that  of  Gamaliel  Wayte,  in  Summer 
street,  on  the  site  of  the  store  of  C.  F.  Hovey  &  Co.1 
He  came  over  with  Edward  Hutchinson,  and  is  described 
as  a  planter  in  the  records,  which  probably  meant  far- 
mer or  gardener,  the  latter  most  likely  to  be  the  fact, 
for  we  find  by  the  Book  of  Possessions  this  land  is  de- 
scribed as  Wayte's  Garden,  and  that  it  was  noted  for 
the  superior  excellence  of  its  fruits.  This  was  planted 
as  early  or  before  1642.  Wayte  had  other  estates  in 
Boston  but  we  know  not  that  he  dwelt  here  himself.2 
Gamaliel  seems  to  have  been  one  of  our  earliest  horti- 
culturists and  had  the  ability  not  only  to  plant  but  to 
partake  of  its  fruits,  for  Judge  Sewall  in  his  Diary  states 
that  he  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty-seven,  and  not  long 
before  death  was  blessed  with  several  new  teeth. 

This  estate  passed  into  the  hands  of  Leonard  Vassal, 
a  name  which  is  honorably  connected  with  the  Massa- 
chusetts colony  from  its  early  period,  thence  to  John 
Hubbard  and  Frederick  W.  Geyer.  Here  once  resided, 
in  the  family  of  Mr.  Geyer,  Mrs.  Maryatt,  whose  gar- 
dens at  Wimbledon  were  at  one  time  the  finest  in 
England  for  their  beauty  and  variety  of  flowering 
plants,  and  we  may  reasonably  conjecture,  says  Mr. 
Amory,  that  "  the  taste  and  skill  that  produce  such 
marvels  were  nurtured  and  fostered  in  her  earlier  days 
among  the  flower  beds  of  Summer  street."  She  died 
in  1855  at  the  age  of  81.  This  estate  passed  in  1800 
to  Samuel  P.  Gardner,  Esq.,  the  father  of  our  respected 

1  See  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  II.,  p.  xxxi. 

2  Letter  of  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Amory. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY. 

merchant  and  fellow-citizen,  John  L.  Gardner,  and 
from  him  the  latter  probably  inherited  that  love  of 
the  fruits  and  flowers  which  for  many  years  have  distin- 
guished his  conservatories  in  Brookline,  and  graced  the 
exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society. 
Of  this  estate  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  remarks, 
"  No  garden  in  Boston  had  finer  fruit  fifty  years  ago, 
and  it  was  cultivated  and  cared  for  with  the  highest 
intelligence  and  skill.  The  best  specimens  of  all  the 
old  varieties  of  pears  were  to  be  found  there,  and  Mr. 
Gardner  had  a  peculiar  art  of  preserving  them  from 
decay  and  bringing  them  out  after  the  season  for  them 
was  over."  How  many  of  Wayte's  trees  or  plants  sur- 
vived till  these  grounds  carne  into  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Gardner  we  know  not,  but  we  have  a  diagram  of  the 
garden,  and  the  lists  of  its  fruits  in  1811,  furnished  us 
by  Mr.  John  L.  Gardner,  and  as  late  as  1870  there  was 
an  old  pear  tree  in  the  yard  that  was  in  a  thrifty  con- 
dition. 

Summer  street  was  for  a  long  time  one  of  the  most 
delightful  in  the  city,  and  well  merited  its  name  from 
the  overhanging  branches  of  ornamental  trees  and  the 
beauty  and  fruits  of  the  gardens  attached  to  the  man- 
sions of  its  wealthy  occupants. 

Here,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  were  the 
residences  of  Gov.  James  Sullivan,  afterwards  of  Wil- 
liam Gray,  Joseph  Barrell,  Benjamin  Bussey,  Nathaniel 
Goddard,  Henry  Hill,  and  David  Ellis,  father  of  Rev. 
Dr.  George  E.  Ellis,  whose  gardens  were  supplied  with 
the  fruits  and  flowers  of  those  days,  and  where  peaches 
and  foreign  grapes,  and  the  old  pears  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  ripened  every  year. 

Perrin  May,  a  retired  old  merchant  of  Boston,  was 
a  skilful  cultivator  of  fruits.  His  garden  was  on  Wash- 
ington street,  at  the  South  End,  where  he  produced 


10  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

remarkable  specimens  of  fruits,  especially  the  pear, 
which  he  attributed  partly  to  the  entrapping  of  cats 
and  fertilizing  the  soil  with  them.  Of  the  early  pears, 
which  soon  decayed  at  the  core,  he  said  they  should  be 
eaten  by  a  chronometer. 

We  have  no  detailed  history  of  the  progress  of  horti- 
culture in  New  England  from  the  early  days  of  which 
we  have  written.  But  we  find  in  1730  that  apples 
from  Blaxton's  orchard  were  for  sale  in  Boston  market. 
In  1770  we  find  the  following  advertisement  in  the 
Boston  Gazette,  by  the  gardener  of  John  Hancock, 
the  first  signer  to  the  ever  memorable  Declaration  of 
American  Independence,  and  first  Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts : 

4 ;  To  be  sold  by  George  Spriggs,  Gardener  to  John  Hancock, 
Esq.,  a  Large  Assortment  of  English  Fruit  Trees,  grafted  and  in- 
oculated of  the  best  and  richest  kinds  of  Cherry  Trees,  Pear  Trees, 
Plumb  Trees,  Peach  Trees,  Apricots,  Nectarines,  Quinces,  Lime 
Trees,  Apple  Trees,  grafted  and  ungrafted,  and  sundry  Mulberry 
Trees,  which  will  be  fit  to  transplant  the  next  year,  and  Med- 
leys." 

John  Hancock's  nursery  and  pasture  were  near  the 
site  of  the  present  State  House  ; L  and  his  garden  and 
orchard  surrounded  his  princely  mansion.  Governor 
Hancock's  garden  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  great 
note,  having  received  constant  accessions  from  Eng- 
land. Miss  Eliza  Greenleaf  Gardner,  a  distant  relative 
of  Mrs.  Hancock,  who  still  lives,  was  for  many  years 
an  inmate  of  the  Hancock  house,  and  states  that — 

"  The  grounds  were  laid  out  in  ornamental  flower-beds,  bordered 
with  box ;  box  trees,  of  large  size,  with  a  great  variety  of  fruit, 
among  which  were  several  immense  mulberry  trees." — Drake's  Old 
Landmarks  of  Boston,  p.  339,  340. 

1  See  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  II.,  p.  xlvi. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  11 

Among  the  prominent  gardens  which  existed  in 
Boston  previous  to  the  Revolution,  was  that  of  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  Hutchinson.*  This  was  on  Garden 
Court,  extending  back  to  Hanover  and  Fleet  streets. 
These  grounds  are  said  to  have  been  extensive, 
and  tradition  informs  us  were  well  stocked  with  the 
choice  fruits  and  flowers  of  those  days.  His  splendid 
residence  is  minutely  and  graphically  described  by  Mrs. 
Lydia  Maria  Child  in  the  "  Rebels."  This  was  located 
next  to  the  celebrated  house  of  Sir  H.  Frankland, 
which,  like  others  in  that  region,  are  reputed  to  have 
had  fine  gardens,  their  possessors  being  of  the  elite  of 
society,  and  North  Square,  the  rival  or  court  end  of 
the  town.1 

Gov.  Hutchinson  had  also  a  residence  on  Milton  Hill, 
with  orchards  and  a  garden.  This  estate  was  confis- 
cated, and  became  successively  the  residence  of  James 
Warren,  Barney  Smith,  Jonathan  Russell,  and  now  of 
Miss  Rosalie  G.  Russell.  Hutchinson  appears  to  have 
been  fond  of  rural  life  and  was  himself  a  practical  cultiva- 
tor, having  grafted  with  his  own  hand  a  tree  for  Mrs 
Jeremy  Smith  with  the  St.  Michael  pear.  This  tree, 
with  some  of  the  remains  of  his  orchards,  survived  until 
nearly  the  present  time.  Gov.  Hutchinson  planted  the 
old  button-wood  trees  on  the  sides  of  the  road  of  Milton 
Hill.2 

Among  the  gardens  in  the  early,  part  of  this  century- 
were  those  scattered  over  Pemberton  Hill  from 
Southack's  court,  now  Howard  street,  to  Beacon  street 
up  and  around  the  capitol.  Here  was  the  garden 
of  Doctor  James  Lloyd,  father  of  our  Senator  in  Con- 
gress, running  back  to  Somerset  street,  where  is  stiH 

*  Boston  Memorial.  Vol.  II.,  pp.  xi,  52G. 

1  Old  Landmarks  of  Boston,  page  1G6  and  1G7. 

2  Letter  of  Edmund  J.  Baker. 


12  THE    HOKTICULTUEE    OF 

standing  the  house  built  by  his  son,  the  Hon.  James 
Lloyd. 

From  Southack  court,  now  Howard  street,  many  of 
the  residences  over  Cotton,  Pemberton,  and  Beacon  Hill, 
and  around  the  State  House,  had  gardens.  Here  dwelt 
Eev.  John  Cotton,  Gov.  Endicott,  and  at  a  later  day, 
Gardiner  Greene,  Wm.  Phillips,  and  at  the  corner  of 
Beacon  and  Tremont,  Samuel  Eliot,  grandfather  of 
President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  College. 

Gov.  James  Bowdoin's  garden  extended  from  the 
corner  of  Beacon  and  Bowdoin  streets  over  to  what  is 
now  Ashburton  street,  and  Dr.  John  Joy's  from  Beacon 
to  Mt.  Yernon  street. 

On  Tremont  street,  nearly  opposite  King's  Chapel, 
was  the  estate  of  Lieut.-Gov.  Wm.  Phillips,  formerly 
the  residence  of  Peter  Faneuil,*  of  Faneuil  Hall  mem- 
ory, whose  gardens  and  grounds  are  described  as  being 
very  fine.  Here,  it  is  said,  was  built  by  Andrew 
Faneuil,  uncle  of  Peter,  the  first  greenhouse  in  New 
England.  Miss  Quincy,  in  her  memoir,  thus  describes 
the  place : 

"  The  deep  courtyard  ornamented  b}7  flowers  and  shrubs  was 
divided  into  upper  and  lower  plats.  The  terraces  which  rose  from 
the  paved  court  were  supported  by  massive  walls  of  granite,  and  a 
grasshopper  glittered  on  the  summer-house,  which  commanded  a 
view  only  second  to  Beacon  hill." — Drakes  Old  Landmarks,  page 
54  ;  also.  Miss  Quincy's  Letter. 

But  the  most  conspicuous  and  extensive,  and  elegant 
garden  of  those  days  was  that  of  Gardiner  Greene,  who 
also  had  one  of  the  early  greenhouses  in  Boston.  The 
grounds  were  terraced  and  planted  with  vines,  fruits, 
ornamental  trees,  flowering  shrubs  and  plants,  and  were 
to  me,  when  I  visited  themj  sixty-five  years  ago,  a  scene 

*See  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  250,  523,  ami  the  view  in  Vol.  IV. 


BOSTON    AND    VICINITY.  13 

of  beauty  and  enchantment  I  shall  never  forget.1  Here 
were  growing  in  the  open  air  Black  Hamburg  and 
White  Chasselas  grapes,  apricots,  nectarines,  peaches, 
pears  and  plums  in  perfection,  presenting  a  scene 
which  made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind,  arid  which 
gave  me  some  of  those  strong  incentives  that  have 
governed  me  in  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and  flowers. 
Here  were  many  ornamental  trees  brought  from  foreign 
lands ;  one  of  which,  the  Salisburia  adiantifolia,  the 
Japan  Ginkgo  tree,  was  removed  through  the  personal 
efforts  of  the  late-  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow  and  planted 
on  the  upper  city  mall  where  it  now  stands. 

Nearly  down  to  Tremont  street  was  the  house  of  the 
late  Doctor  Samuel  A.  Shurtleff,  one  of  the  early  vice- 
presidents  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
in  whose  garden  was  originated  the  Shurtleff  grape 
and  other  fruits,  now  growing  on  his  estate  in  Brook- 
line  ;  on  the  latter  estate  were  raised  from  seed  the 
President,  General  Grant,  Admiral  Farragut,  and 
other  Pears,  varieties  which  should  be  more  generally 
known. 

One  of  the  largest  gardens  of  that  day  was 
that  of  Governor  James  Bowdoin,  to  which  we  have 
referred.  He  had  a  large  house  and  an  extensive  lot 
of  land  on  Beacon  street  at  the  corner  of  Bowdoin 
street,  reaching  quite  over  the  hill  to  what  is  now 
Ashburton  Place.  There  he  had  a  garden  abounding 
in  the  finest  fruits,  pears  and  peaches,  apples  and 
grapes.  Hon.  James  Bowdoin,  his  son,  resided  on  Milk 
btreet,  in  the  house  where  our  honored  citizen,  the 
Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  was  born,  known  as  the 
"  Mansion  House."  This  garden  extended  back 
almost  to  Franklin  street,  and  was  filled  with  fruit 

1  See  frontispiece  of  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  IV. 


14  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

trees  of  the  best  sorts.  Here  General  Henry  Dearborn, 
of  revolutionary  memory,  who  married  the  widow  of 
Mr.  Bowdoin,  resided  for  a  while,  and  his  son,  General 
H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  the  first  President  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society,  was  familiar  with  that 
garden,  and  from  it  he  probably  gained  some  of  the 
zeal  that  characterized  him  as  a  leader  in  horticul- 
ture. Of  this  garden,  says  Mr.  Winthrop :  "  There  were 
no  more  delicious  Saint  Michael,  Brown  Beurre,  Mon- 
sieur Jean,  or  Saint  Germain  pears  to  be  found  any 
where  in  Boston  than  I  have  eaten  from  those 
trees."  Mr.  Bowdoin  had  also  a  large  farm  at  Dor- 
chester, now  known  as  Mount  Bowdoin.  where  he  had 
an  orchard  of  apple  and  pear  trees.  He  also  experi- 
mented with  fruit  trees  on  Naushon  Island,  now  the 
property  of  the  Hon.  John  M.  Forbes.  His  main  atten- 
tion was,  however,  given  to  horses,  cows  and  sheep; 
the  breeding  of  the  latter  being  still  continued.  This 
estate  was  in  the  care  of  the  father  of  Mr.  Winthrop 
for  many  years  after  the  death,  of  his  uncle,  Mr. 
Bowdoin ;  and,  says  Mr.  Winthrop, "  I  have  worn  clothes 
made  of  Naushon  wool."  The  cheese  from  this  Island 
was  quite  celebrated  more  than  half  a  century  ago ; 
and  Mr.  Winthrop  adds :  "  I  doubt  if  any  one  in  Massa- 
chusetts did  more  for  Agriculture  and  Horticulture  at 
that  period  than  James  Bowdoin,  the  son  of  the 
Governor." 

Another  garden  worthy  of  record,  which  stood  on 
what  is  now  the  site  of  the  Revere  House,  was  that  of 
Kirk  Boott,  an  eminent  merchant  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  Lowell.  It  was  the  home  of  John  Wright 
and  William  Boott.  Here,  fifty  years  ago,  was  a  good 
garden  with  fruit  trees  and  vines  in  which  were  grow- 

1  Letter  of  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  15 

ing  in  the  open  air  foreign  grapes  and  other  tender 
fruits,  which  now  succeed  only  under  glass.  Here  was 
also  a  greenhouse  with  a  choice  collection  of  plants. 
Some  of  these  were  obtained  from  the  Duke  of  Bedford 
and  others  in  England  through  the  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Francis  Boott,  a  brother,  and  a  celebrated  botanist  in 
London.  The  collection  of  Amaryllises  and  Orchids  was 
the  best  in  the  country,  the  latter  having  been  the  first 
attempt  in  New  England  for  the  culture  of  this  tribe  of 
plants.  Here  forty  years  ago  was  a  magnificent  plant 
of  the  Phaius  grandiflora  (Bletia  Tankervillese),  then  a 
rare  plant.  Mr.  Boott  gave  his  plants  to  the  Hon. 
John  A.  Lowell,  from  whence  some  of  the  Orchids 
went  to  the  collection  of  Edward  S.  Rand,  of  Dedham, 
and  to  which  he  made  large  additions  by  importation 
from  Europe,  and  were  finally  given  by  him  and  his 
friend  James  Lawrence  to  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Cam- 
bridge. E.  S.  Rand,  Jr.,  had  an  extensive  collection  of 
Orchids,  some  of  which  are  now  in  the  grand  collection 
of  Frederick  L.  Ames,  at  North  Easton,  which  has  been 
by  importation  at  great  expense  so  much  enlarged  as 
to  occupy  three  houses  for  their  growth,  and  is  scarcely 
second  to  any  in  this  country.  Mr.  Ames  is  one  of  the 
most  enterprising  and  generous  contributors  to  the  ex- 
hibitions of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
having,  in  addition  to  these,  a  fernery,  a  stove,  a  con^ 
servatory,  two  graperies,  a  rose  house,  a  propagating 
and  a  vegetable  house.  He  has  for  years  received  from 
Europe  all  the  new  and  desirable  plants  soon  after  their 
introduction.  Some  of  his  Orchids  have  cost  from  100 
to  180  guineas  a  plant. 

Other  old  gardens  on  Summer  street  and  vicinity 
were  those  of  Amory,  Salisbury,  and  of  Edmund 
Quincy,  running  back  to  Bedford  street;  Judge 
Jackson's,  on  the  corner  of  Bedford  and  Chauncy 


16  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

streets,  where  the  building  of  the  Massachusetts  Chari- 
table Mechanics'  Association  now  stands;  and  the 
Eowe  and  Barrell  estates,  on  what  is  now  Chauncy 
street;  a  part  of  the  latter,  at  the  foot  of  Franklin 
street,  being  drained  by  Mr.  Barrell,  and  converted 
into  a  garden. 

Mr.  George  W.  Lyman's  recollection  of  the  gardens 
and  open  grounds  of  Boston,  is  as  follows : 

"On  Green  and  Chardon  streets  was  Mr.  Samuel  Parkman's 
estate,  with  a  large  garden.  On  Green  street  that  of  Samuel  Gore, 
and  one  other  large  estate,  owner's  name  forgotten.  On  Bowdoin 
square  and  Chardon  street,  estate  of  Gov.  Gore,  garden  and  land, 
the  estate  of  Joseph  Coolidge,  2d,  and  Kirk  Boott.  On  Cambridge 
and  Middlecot,  now  Bowdoin  street,  was  the  large  estate  of  Joseph 
Co\)lidge,  the  elder,  of  Mr.  Mackej*,  and  much  vacant  land  on  the 
west.  On  what  is  now  Tremont  street,  the  gardens  of  Dr.  Dan- 
forth,  Dr.  Loyd,  Gardiner  Greene  and  Gov.  Phillips,  extending 
to  highland,  and  including  the  Bowdoin  estate,  and  perhaps  others. 
On  Beacon  Hill  was  a  monument,  with  a  gilt  eagle  on  its  top.  I 
regret  the  destruction  of  this  hill  and  monument,  but  it  was 
invaded  and  destroyed  by  parties  known  as  improvers,  and  this 
healthy  gravel  and  fertile  loam,  as  well  as  that  on  Pemberton  Hill, 
was  removed  and  dumped  into  the  filthy  mill  pond.  I  hope  the 
only  remaining  classical  hill,  the  Copps,  will  be  preserved  for  all 
time.  On  Summer  street  was  the  garden  of  William  Gray,  who 
denned  4  enough'  as  '  a  little  more  ;'  that  of  Benjamin  Bussey,  and 
that  of  Samuel  P.  Gardner,  which  bore  some  very  fine  pears  not  now 
known.  On  Beacon  street  was  the  large  estate  of  Gov.  Hancock, 
extending  to  Belknap,  changed  by  Cornelius  Coolidge  to  Joy  street, 
and  northerly  to  Mt.  Yernon  street,  and  of  Dr.  Joy,  from  Beacon 
to  Mt.  Vernon  streets.  There  was  south  of  Walnut  street  a  large 
lot  of  land  extending  to  Charles  River,  with  a  small  powder  house 
and  a  spring  of  water  on  the  same." 

Writes  Mr.  Lyman,  under  his  own  hand,  May  24,  1880.  "this 
lot  is  now  covered  with  houses  and  streets." 

"You  will  perceive  that  the  old  town  of  Boston  is  very  much 
altered  from  what  it  was  at  the  date  of  my  memorandum.  In  my 
opinion  it  was  a  much  pleasantcr  place  to  reside  in  than  what  it  is  at 
present.  I  was  pleased  with  your  kindly  recollection  of  me,  and  I 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  17 

hope  3*011  will   continue  to  enjoy  }'our  fondness  for  horticulture, 
flowers,  etc.,  for  many  years. 

I  remain  your  friend  and  servant, 

GEO.  W.  LYMAN." 

The  great  event  in  the  progress  of  our  horticulture 
during  the  present  century  was  the  establishment  of 
the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  in  1829. 
With  this  there  arose  a  new  era  in  the  science 
of  American  Horticulture,  that  has  not  only  extended 
its  influences  all  over  our  own  continent,  but  has 
reached,  enriched,  beautified  and  energized  other 
portions  of  the  world.  "Its  first  president  was  Gen. 
Henry  Alexander  Scammel  Dearborn,  whose  name 
will  ever  be  gratefully  remembered,  and  to  whom  we 
are  more  indebted  than  to  any  other  man,  in  its  early 
history,  for  its  prestige  and  popularity,  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  From  its  first  president  down  to  the 
present  time  the  Society  has  been  fortunate  in  securing 
gentlemen  to  fill  the  chair,  all  of  whom  have  been 
lovers  of  rural  art.  Dearborn,  Cook,  Vose,  Walker, 
Cabot,  Breck,  and  Stickney  have  gone  before  us, 
but,  thanks  to  a  kind  Providence,  Hovey,  Hyde, 
Strong,  Parkman,  Gray,  Hayes,  and  the  writer,  are 
still  spared  to  labor  in  carrying  out  the  beneficent 
designs  of  its  noble  founders."  But,  perhaps,  the 
most  beneficial  act  of  the  Society  was  in  founding  the 
Mount  Auburn  Cemetery,  that  "  Garden  of  Graves/' 
where  lie  so  many  of  the  loved  and  lost  ones  of  this 
community,  and  from  which  the  Society  has  received 
already  large  sums  of  money,  and  is  entitled  to  a  per- 
petual share  of  its  income  in  the  future.  And  to  repeat 
the  words  uttered  on  a  former  occasion :  "  Be  it  ever 

1  Mr.  Wilder's  Address  at  the  Semi-Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural  Society,  September,  1879. 


18  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

remembered  that  to  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society  the  public  are  indebted  for  the  foundation  and 
consecration  of  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery." 

While  we  have  no  space  to  dwell  on  our  long  pre- 
served Common  with  its  lawns,  its  malls,  fountains  and 
monuments,  we  must  not  forget  the  Public  Garden  of 
Boston.  The  origin  of  this  may  be  traced  to  the  desire 
of  a  few  of  her  citizens  who  were  interested  in  horti- 
cultural improvements  and  rural  embellishments,  but 
more  especially  in  the  establishment  of  a  Botanic  or 
a  Public  Garden,  similar  to  those  of  the  cities  of  the 
old  world.  Among  these  gentlemen  was  Mr.  Horace 
Gray,  father  of  our  Chief  Justice  Gray,  to  whose  great 
enterprise  and  indomitable  perseverance  we  are,  per- 
haps, more  indebted  than  to  any  other  man  for  the 
original  idea  for  our  Public  Garden.  Mr.  Gray  had  a 
small  conservatory  attached  to  his  town  house  in  King- 
ston street,  supplied  from  his  country  greenhouses  at 
Brighton,  where  he  had  grapehouses  with  curved 
roofs,  of  which  he  was  a  great  advocate.  Mr.  Gray, 
in  1839,  with  a  few  associates,  obtained  from  the 
city  a  lease  of  the  present  site  for  a  Botanic  Gar- 
den, upon  which  a  greenhouse  was  built  and  the  grounds 
partially  laid  out  and  planted  with  a  variety  of  orna- 
mental trees  and  plants.  A  company  was  organized, 
of  which  Mr.  Gray  was  chairman  of  the  proprietors, 
and  went  zealously  to  work.  A  very  large  circus 
building  situated  just  back  of  the  corner,  west  of 
Beacon  and  Charles  streets,  was  converted  into  an 
immense  conservatory  for  plants  and  birds.  This  had 
four  galleries,  to  each  of  which  plants  were  assigned 
according  to  a  proper  classification  of  their  character. 


i  Mr.  Wilder's  Address  at  the  laying  of  the  Corner  Stone  of  Horticultural 
Hall,  on  School  Street,  Sept.  14,  1844. 


BOSTON    AND    VICINITY.  19 

This  was  a  place  of  great  attraction  for  the  public 
until  its  destruction  by  fire,  when  the  entire  collection 
was  lost.  The  following  extract  is  from  a  Boston  paper 
of  that  date,  and  will  give  some  idea  of  its  character : 

"  THE  CONSERVATORY. — We  advise  our  friends  who  are  as  usual 
seeking  amusement  during  the  Christmas  holidays,  not  to  omit  look- 
ing in  at  the  Public  Conservatory.  There  are  above  one  thousand 
Camellia  Japonica  plants,  some  of  the  largest  now  in  full  splendor, 
and  others  on  the  point  of  bursting  their  beautiful  buds.  Among 
them  are  at  least  twenty  full  grown  trees,  ten  to  thirty  3Tears  old. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  former  possessor  of  this  superb  collection 
of  Camellias,  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  of  Dorchester,  spared  neither 
pains  nor  expense  to  procure  the  finest  plants  from  the  justly  cele- 
brated nurseries  in  Europe,  and  that  the  most  recent  and  most 
highly  estimated  seedling  varieties  are  comprised  in  it.  But  it  is 
not  too  well  known  that  one  of  his  motives  for  disposing  of  this 
collection  to  the  societj-,  at  a  great  pecuniary  sacrifice  to  himself, 
was  the  desire  that  his  fellow-citizens  might  conveniently  and  fre- 
quently enjoy  the  pleasure  of  viewing  it.  It  is  calculated  that 
during  the  next  five  or  six  weeks,  several  thousand  Camellia 
blossoms  will  expand,  hundreds  are  now  in  full  bloom,  and  contrast 
beautifully  with  the  dark  glossy  foliage.  Several  of  the  Acacia 
tribe,  the  pride  of  the  Flora  of  New  South  Wales,  are  likewise  in 
beaut}*,  as  is  also  the  fine  Poinsettia  pulcherrima,  named  in  compli- 
ment to  our  minister  in  Mexico,  Mr.  Poinset! ,  who  sent  it  thence 
to  Charleston  in  1828,  whence  it  found  its  way  to  Europe.  This 
plant  was  presented  by  the  Hon.  John  Lowell,  of  Roxburj7.  We 
are  also  informed  that  the  society  has  recently  received  ten  or  twelve 
cases  of  plants  from  Rio  Janeiro,  containing  about  one  hundred 
varieties  of  the  curious  air  plants  now  attracting  so  much  attention 
in  Europe  ;  most  of  these  are  beginning  to  vegetate  in  a  small  stove 
erected  for  this  purpose  below  ;  these  will,  no  doubt,  be  exhibited 
in  the  Conservatory  as  they  come  into  flower.  We  trust  the  public 
will  not  fail  liberally  to  support  this  establishment,  which,  although 
now  in  its  infancy,  promises  to  become  the  pride  and  ornament  of 
this  wealthy  and  polished  city." 

Among  the  plants  destroyed  was  one  whose  history 
may  be  noted.  It  was  a  large,  Double  White  Camellia, 
rooted  from  a  cutting  by  Dr.  Dixwell,  in  his  study,  now 


20  THE   HOKTICULTURE    OF 

Allston  street,  and  purchased  of  him  by  the  writer 
about  fifty  years  since  for  the  sura  of  thirty  dollars. 
This  Camellia  was  burnt  down  nearly  to  its  root,  but 
like  the  fabled  goddess  springing  from  the  fire,  it  after- 
wards sprouted  up  into  growth  again.  It  then  went  to 
Mr.  Jonathan  French,  of  Koxbury,  and  thence  to  Wil- 
liam E.  Baker,  Ridge  Hill  Farm,  Wellesley,  where  it  is 
now  in  a  green  old  age.  The  adjacent  grounds  were 
filled  up  and  the  garden  enlarged  by  the  city,  with  the 
provision  that  they  are  never  to  be  built  on.  In  1859 
they  became  our  Public  Garden,  and  in  1860  this  was 
remodelled  by  laying  it  out  and  planting  it  on  a  definite 
and  proper  plan.  This  garden  embraces  about  twenty- 
four  acres  of  land,  containing  a  choice  collection  of 
ornamental  trees,  shrubs,  and  plants;  and  in  the  sum- 
mer season,  with  its  ninety  thousand  bedded  plants,  is  an 
object  of  splendor  and  interest,  being  the  most  delight- 
ful resort  for  thousands  of  citizens  and  strangers,  and 
especially  for  children,  who  in  pleasant  weather  are  drawn 
in  their  carriages  or  stroll  through  its  walks.  From  its 
inception  the  Garden,  with  its  statues,  fountains  and 
floral  attractions,  has  been  every  year  more  highly  ap- 
preciated, and  we  trust  it  will  soon  attain  to  that 
perfection  which  a  Boston  garden  should  exhibit.  The 
number  of  trees  in  this  garden  is  1500,  and  the  whole 
number  of  trees  under  city  care  is  23,000. 


LETTER    OF    JOHN    CADNESS, 

Now  LIVING  IN  FLUSHING,  NEW  YORK. 

I  was  engaged  by  Dr.  Boot,  of  London,  through  Dr.  John  Lind- 
ley,  Secretary  of  the  London  Horticultural  Society's  Gardens  at 
Chiswick.  I  left  England  in  June,  1839,  arriving  in  the  United 
States  in  August,  and  took  charge  of  the  Boston  Public  Garden 
on  the  7th  of  that  month,  under  a  three  years'  engagement. 


BOSTON    AND   VICINITY.  21 

I  found  a  large,  and  at  that  time  a  very  fine  collection  of  plants, 
especial^  Camellias,  among  which  were  some  of  the  largest  plants 
in  the  country,  notably  Alba  plenas,  one  of  which  was  said  to  have 
been  raised  from  a  cutting  by  the  late  Dr.  Dixwell,  of  Boston. 
Also  quite  a  number  of  grafted  standard  trees,  with  fine  heads,  of 
all  the  old  varieties,  such  as  Gilesii,  Chandleri,  Elegans,  Floyi, 
Hume's  blush,  Duchesse  d'  Orleans,  Donklaerii,  with  many  French 
varieties,  and  all  imported  plants.  Among  other  greenhouse  plants 
many  of  the  most  show}7  new  Holland  plants,  then  in  fashion  ;  some 
varieties  of  Chinese  Azaleas,  Ericas,  and  a  variety  of  tropical  plants, 
as  Strelitzias,  Sago  Palm,  Bananas,  Hibiscus,  Eugenias,  (Rose  ap- 
ple) and  a  large  collection  of  Cape  bulbs  and  Amaryllis,  Pelargoni- 
ums, many  of  Beck's  and  Cock's  (of  London)  new  seedling  prize 
flowers,  with  the  finest  set  of  herbaceous  Calceolarias  ever  seen  here. 

The  Conservatory  and  two  other  houses  were  erected  on  land 
west  of  Charles  street.  The  Conservatory  was  a  very  large  struc- 
ture and  had  an  imposing  appearance  but  was  in  a  bad  position, 
being  exposed  to  the  cold  winds  of  the  Back  Ba}%  and  in  severe  win- 
ter weather  was  difficult  to  manage.  There  was  also  a  fine  collec- 
tion of  tropical  and  European  singing  birds  in  the  Conservatory, 
of  which  were  some  rare  specimens. 

The  gardens  were  at  the  foot,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Common, 
as  now,  with  entrance  foot  of  Beacon  street,  and  were  only  partly 
laid  out.  From  the  nature  of  the  land,  it  being  from  four  to  six 
feet  below  the  street  level,  it  was  filled  in  with  all  sorts  of  city 
refuse,  and  a  great  part  of  it  subject  to  the  inroads  of  the  tide. 
However,  a  fine  broad  walk  was  laid  from  the  entrance  to  the  end 
of  the  Common,  with  a  border  planted  with  ornamental  trees, 
shrubbeiy,  standard  roses,  herbaceous  and  other  plants  which  had 
a  fine  appearance.  A  few  large  beds  were  cut  out  wherever  the 
soil  would  admit  of  it,  and  planted  with  the  Dahlia,  of  which  there 
was  a  good  collection. 

There  was  also  imported  from  Groom,  of  Wai  worth,  England,  a 
complete  bed  of  prize  Tulips,  the  first  ever  imported  into  the  United 
States,  valued  at  $1000,  but  costing  Mr.  Gray  $1500,  and  which  for 
a  time  was  a  great  attraction.  Mr.  Gray  supported  the  place  dur- 
ing the  time  I  had  charge  of  it,  and  I  always  understood  that  he 
was  the  leading  spirit  in  its  establishment.  He  devoted  much  of 
his  time  and  means  to  aid  in  its  success,  and  in  connection  with  the 
late  Mr.  Teschemacher,  did  more  to  that  end  than  aH}r  other  per- 
son. The  two  great  difficulties  in  the  case  were,  I  think,  from  the 
nature  of  the  ground  it  was  impossible  to  plant  the  proper  kinds  of 


22  THE   HOKTICULTUKE    OF 

ornamental  trees  that,  in  their  growth,  would  have  improved  and 
changed  in  a  short  time  the  character  of  the  place ;  also  the  want 
of  the  Conservator}7  and  other  glass,  which  would  have  been  very 
effective  on  the  place. 

The  Public  Garden  was  under  the  supervision  of 
Prof.  James  E.  Teschemacher,  afterwards  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
and  one  of  the  most  eminent  botanists  and  chemists  of 
our  day. 

In  this  connection,  although  not  strictly  horticultu- 
ral, our  history  would  be  incomplete  did  we  not  remem- 
ber the  Great  Elm  of  Boston  Common,  supposed  by  some, 
probably  a  mere  fancy,  to  have  been  planted  by  Mr. 
Blackstone ;  the  noble  Paddock  Elms  in  front  of  the 
Granary  burying  ground,  whose  running  roots  searching 
for  food  pierced  the  dark  charnel  vaults  within,  like  that 
other  tree  whose  roots  held  within  its  loving  embrace 
the  honored  heads  of  puritan  and  patriot  dust.  The 
Paddock  Elms  were  planted  about  the  year  1762,  but 
have  yielded  to  the  daring  spirit  which  is  fast  making  a 
new  city  out  of  old  Boston.  The  monster  Elms  of  Essex 
street  are  gone,  and  also  the  old  "  Liberty  Tree"  once  at 
its  corner  on  Washington  street,  consecrated  by  our 
fathers  to  the  rights  of  man,  as  a  fit  representative  of 
that  national  tree  which  now  overshadows  our  vast 
country,  and  under  whose  wide-spreading  branches 
more  than  fifty  millions  of  happy  freemen  now  recline 
in  peace  and  safety. 

The  Great  Elm  was  also  at  a  time  one  of  the  secret 
places  of  resort  for  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  then  bore 
the  name  of  the  "  Liberty  Tree,"  but  this  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  "  Liberty  Tree  "  of  which  we  have 
spoken  and  which  was  cut  down  by  the  British  soldiers 
during  the  siege  of  Boston.  Of  the  age  of  the  Great  Elm 
we  cannot  speak  positively.  It  has  been  known  as  far 


BOSTON  AND   VICINITY.  23 

back  as  tradition  can  go,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  it  was  growing  there  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Colonists,  where  the  night-bird  held  her  wakeful  vigils 
in  the  branches  above,  the  sonorous  frogs  their  nightly 
incantations  in  the  pools  below,  and  where  the  wild 
flower  was 


born  to  blush  unseen, 


And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

Until  1830  this  old  tree  stood  without  special  care, 
where,  under  its  umbrageous  shade,  millions  of  souls 
have  rested  on  their  promenade,  and  hundreds  of  the 
lowing  herd  have  chewed  in  quiet  the  fragrant  cud. 
And  could  this  old  tenant  of  the  forest  have  told  his  story 
of  the  past,  how  many  councils  of  the  red  man,  plans  of 
patriotism,  tales  of  love,  plots  of  mischief,  and  acts  of 
sin  would  be  revealed  ?  But,  like  all  things  terrestrial, 
which  must  have  an  end,  this  venerable  giant  of  the 
forest  came  to  its  destruction.  In  the  gale  of  February 
15th,  1876,  its  monstrous  trunk  and  towering  branches 
fell  to  rise  no  more.  Thousands  of  relic  hunters  flocked 
to  get  souvenirs  of  the  tree  and  carried  them  home  in 
triumph,  sawing,  cutting,  and  carrying  them  away  as 
relics  snatched  from  some  holy  shrine.  Universal  sorrow 
was  manifested  by  the  public  at  the  loss  of  this  venerable 
tree.  Resolutions  of  regret  were  passed  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural  Society,  and  the  writer  was  re- 
quested to  solicit  from  the  Mayor  a  section  for  preserva- 
tion in  its  cabinet,  a  request  which  was  granted,  both  to 
this  Society,  to  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical 
Society  and  to  himself,  from  which  were  made  noble 
chairs,  commemorative  of  the  Centennial  of  our  Repub- 
lic in  1876. 

Among  the  most  potent  agents  in  the  promotion  of 
horticulture  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 


24  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

was  the  establishment  of  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Cam- 
bridge ;  furnishing,  as  it  has  done  to  the  present  day,  a 
most  extensive  and  interesting  collection  of  native  and 
foreign  plants  collected  from  all  parts  of  the  world ; 
where  the  student  may  be  instructed,  the  eye  charmed, 
the  senses  gratified  with  an  infinite  variety  of  curi- 
ous and  beautiful  trees  and  various  types  of  the  floral 
kingdom ;  and  where  the  science  of  plant  life  and  its  mani- 
fold relations  to  the  arts  and  industries  are  illustrated, 
in  their  connection  with  the  happiness  of  the  human  race. 
This  garden  was  established  at  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  and  has  ever  exercised  a  happy  influ- 
ence on  horticulture  and  the  knowledge  of  plants.  It  had 
for  its  early  patron  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Agriculture,  which  in  1801  laid  its  foundation 
by  a  liberal  subscription  to  establish  a  Professorship  of 
Natural  History  at  Cambridge,  culminating  in  the 
planting  of  the  Botanic  Garden,1  at  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, which  has  exerted  a  direct  influence  on  the  taste 
that  ultimately  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society.2 

Under  the  direction  of  Professors  Thomas  Nuttall, 
Thaddeus  William  Harris,  Asa  Gray,  and  Charles  S.  Sar- 
gent, it  has  had  a  world  wide  reputation,  and  now  under 
the  direction  of  Professor  Goodale,  is  in  a  very  satis- 
factory condition.  It  has  been  much  improved  by  the 
efforts  of  Dr.  Gray  and  Professor  Sargent,  but  still  needs 
funds  to  promote  its  usefulness.  Through  the  exertions 
of  Prof.  Goodale  the  sum  of  more  than  fifty  thousand 
dollars  has  been  already  subscribed  towards  a  permanent 
fund,  which  we  have  no  doubt  will  be  established,  and 
thus  this  most  useful  institution  will  be  placed  in  a 

1  Transactions  for  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agricul- 
ture, New  Series,  Vol.  1st,  page  28th. 

-History  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  page  40. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  25 

condition  to  maintain  the  reputation  which  it  so  richly 
deserves. 

The  Bussey  Institution1  and  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
at  Jamaica  Plain,  also  departments  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, give  promise  of  great  usefulness,  not  only  in 
promoting  Agriculture  and  Arboriculture,  but  will  be 
prominent  agents  in  advancing  the  cause  of  Horticul- 
ture, and  a  knowledge  of  the  endless  variety  of  trees 
and  plants,  where,  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Sargent, 
curator,  are  now  growing  2500  species  of  trees  and 
shrubs.  The  funds  for  the  establishment  of  the  Bussey 
Institution  were  derived  from  the  bequest  of  Benjamin 
Bussey,  and  those  for  the  Arboretum  from  James  Ar- 
nold, of  New  Bedford,  who  constituted  the  late  Dr.  Geo. 
B.  Emerson  and  others,  trustees,  with  authority  to  appro- 
priate the  same  for  such  a  purpose.  These  institutions 
are  in  a  prosperous  condition,  each  carrying  out  the  ob- 
jects for  which  they  were  designed.  This  place,  now 
called  Woodland  Hill,  on  which  Thomas  Motley,  President 
of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture, 
now  resides,  by  virtue  of  Mr.  Bussey's  will  in  bequest  to 
Mrs.  Motley,  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Bussey  in  1815,  where 
he  afterwards  had  orchards  of  various  fruits,  pears, 
plums  and  peaches,  especially  of  the  apple  and  cherries, 
largely  Mazzard,  as  Mr.  Bussey  used  to  say,  for  the 


1The  property  of  Woodland  Hill  was  given  to  Harvard  College,  on  the  fol- 
lowing conditions,  viz.  : — "  That  they  will  establish  there  a  course  of  instruction 
in  practical  Agriculture,  in  useful  and  ornamental  gardening,  in  botany,  and 
in  such  other  branches  of  natural  sciences  as  may  tend  to  promote  a  knowledge 
of  practical  agriculture,  and  the  various  arts  subservient  thereto  and  connected 
therewith,  and  cause  such  course  of  lectures  to  be  delivered  there,  at  such 
seasons  of  the  year  and  under  such  regulations  as  they  may  think  best  adapted 
to  promote  the  ends  designed ;  and  also  to  furnish  gratuitous  aid,  if  they  shall 
think  it  expedient,  to  such  meritorious  persons  as  may  resort  there  for 
instruction;  the  institution  so  established  shall  be  called  the  " Bussey  Institu- 
tion."—  Thomas  Motley's  Letter. 


26  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

birds;  "for  we  found  they  were  quite  fond  of  cherries, 
and  took  their  full  share."  3 

In  regard  to  the  environs  of  our  city,  we  would  state 
that  from  a  very  early  period  these  have  been  cele- 
brated for  their  elegant  estates,  fine  gardens,  and  for 
the  rural  adornments  bestowed  on  them  by  our  wealthy 
merchants  and  citizens,  who,  as  the  city  increased, 
required  more  room  for  commercial  purposes,  and 
transplanted  many  of  their  trees  and  plants  to  their 
country  homes.  Dorchester,  Roxbury,  Brookline,  and 
Cambridge,  were  famous  in  early  history  for  their  interest 
in  agricultural  and  horticultural  improvement.  For  the 
first  twenty  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society,  Roxbury  and  Dorchester  fur- 
nished all  the  presidents  and  treasurers  of  that  institu- 
tion. 

In  Dorchester  were  the  gardens  and  orchards  of 
some  of  the  first  settlers,  and  some  of  the  old  pear 
trees  planted  by  them  have  survived  to  the  present 
time.  Of  those  in  the  present  century  which  have  been 
more  or  less  noted  we  may  mention  the  estates  of  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Thaddeus  Mason  Harris,2  William  Clapp, 
Ebenezer  T.  Andrews  the  partner  of  Isaiah  Thomas,  of 
Samuel  Downer,  Cheever  Newhall,  Zebedee  Cook, 
Elijah  Yose,  William  Oliver,  John  Richardson,  William 
R.  Austin.  From  other  gardens  have  gone  forth  many  of 
the  choice  fruits  which  are  now  in  cultivation,  such  as 
the  Downer  cherry,  the  Andrews,  Frederick  Clapp,  the 
Harris,  the  Clapp's  Favorite,  and  other  seedling  pears, 
and  we  hope  the  last  named  may  endure  even  longer 
than  the  marble  on  which  its  form  is  engraved  in 


1  Letter  of  Thomas  Motley. 

2  Dr.  Harris  was  a  lover  of  fine  fruit,  and  once  said  to  the  writer,  "Your 
exhibition  of  pears  is  grand ;  but  there  is  one  variety  that  I  miss, — the  Bon 
Chretien  (the  good  Christian).     I  shall  bring  some  from  my  garden  tomorrow. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  27 

Forest  Hills  Cemetery;1  and  to  these  we  might  add 
the  Dorchester  blackberry,  the  President  Wilder  straw- 
berry, and  just  over  the  borders  of  Dorchester  in  Milton 
the  Diana  grape,  raised  by  Mrs.  Diana  Crehore,  who  still 
lives  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four  years.  This  was 
brought  to  notice  in  1843,  being  the  first  seedling 
American  grape  at  the  exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society  deemed  worthy  of  notice. 

Zebedee  Cook,  the  second  president  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society,  some  fifty  years  since  had  a 
large  garden  opposite  the  Andrews  estate,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  then  turnpike  road,  where  he  successfully  grew 
several  kinds  of  foreign  grapes,  apricots,  peaches,  and 
pears.  Among  the  grapes  was  a  white  variety,  named 
Horatio,  after  Mr.  Horatio  Sprague.  Consul  at  Gibraltar, 
from  whom  he  received  it,  —  known  now  as  the  Nice 
grape. 

Mr.  Newhall  was  a  distinguished  cultivator,  and  the 
first  treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Socie- 
ty. His  orchards  were  extensive,  embracing  a  large 
number  of  varieties,  especially  of  the  pear,  which  he 
cultivated  with  success  until  about  three  years  since, 
when  he  died  at  the  age  of  ninety.  This  place  was 
once  the  residence  of  Thomas  Motley,  father  of  the  his- 
torian, John  Lathrop  Motley,  and  his  brother,  Thomas 
Motley,  the  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  who  were  here  born. 

Samuel  Downer,2  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Horticul- 

1  The  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Club,  desiring  to  name  this  pear  for  the 
writer,  and  to  disseminate  it  for  general  cultivation,  offered  Mr.  Clapp  one 
thousand  dollars  for  the  control  of  it ;  but  he  declined,  preferring  to  give  to  it 
the  name  it  now  bears. 

2  Pie  was  son  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Downer,  "  the  fighting  surgeon,"  who 
had  a  personal  encounter  with  a  British  soldier  on  his  return  from  the  battle 
at  Concord.  Their  fire  having  missed,  Downer  knocked  him  down  and  then 
ran  him  through  with  his  own  bayonet,  and  said,  "  it  was  not  ten  minutes 
before  I  got  another  good  shot."  Dr.  Downer  was  in  prison  in  Halifax,  from 


28  THE   IIORTICULTUKE    OF 

tural  Society,  had  a  large  orchard  which  still  remains 
in  good  order  under  the  intelligent  care  of  his  son, 
Samuel  Downer,  Jr.  He  was  an  early,  enterprising,  and 
useful  member,  and  took  a  deep  interest  in  pomology 
until  his  death,  at  eighty  years  of  age.  He  was 
especially  interested  in  the  origin  and  character  of 
native  fruits,  and,  as  he  used  to  say,  he  loved  to  be 
"mousing"  after  new  varieties, especially  such  as  were 
of  native  origin. 

Elijah  Yose,  the  third  president  of  the  Horticultural 
Society,  had  a  fine  plantation  of  fruits,  and  especially 
grew  to  great  perfection  the  Duchesse  d'Angouleme 
pear,  which  sometimes  commanded  seventy-five  cents 
to  a  dollar  each  for  extraordinary  specimens. 

William  Oliver,  vice  president  of  the  Horticultural 
Society,  had  a  good  orchard  of  pears  and  other  fruits 
which,  after  his  death,  became  the  residence  of  ex-Gov- 
ernor Henry  J.  Gardner. 

Another  very  old  garden  in  Dorchester,  of  which  our 
valued  citizen,  Mr.  John  Richardson,  has  been  the  occu- 
pant and  owner  for  a  long  course  of  years,  deserves 
a  record  in  our  Memorial  volume.  The  house  was  the 
birthplace  of  Edward  Everett,  and  is  understood  to 
have  been  built  in  colonial  times  by  Gov.  Oliver,  who 
is  supposed  to  have  laid  out  the  garden,  which  is 
now  interesting  from  its  old  trees  and  antique  appear- 
ance, but  more  especially  for  the  number  of  choice 
fruits  and  flowers,  many  of  which  have  been  produced 
from  seed  by  the  hands  of  its  skilful  proprietor. 

The   pear  orchard   of  the  late  William  R.  Austin, 

which  he  escaped;  was  also  in  the  Dartmoor  and  the  Forten  prisons  for 
a  while,  and  was  in  several  desperate  engagements  under  John  Paul  Jones, 
both  as  soldier  and  surgeon.  He  was  engaged  in  the  expedition  up  the 
Kennebec  to  Canada.  Massachusetts  awarded  him  fifteen  dollars  for  his  loss 
of  surgical  instruments. — Letter  of  Samuel  Downer,  Jr.,  May  5,  1881  (since 
deceased). 


BOSTON    AND    VICINITY.  29 

treasurer  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  was,  and  is  still, 
famous  for  the  size  and  beauty  of  its  fruit,  produced  by 
pruning  his  trees  into  the  shape  of  a  wine-glass. 

And  here,  in  the  Dorchester  district,  if  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  allude  to  it,  are  the  experimental  grounds  of 
the  writer,  formerly  the  estate  of  Gov.  Increase  Sumner, 
which,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  1799,  passed  into  the 
hands  of  his  son,  Gen.  William  H.  Sumner,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  and  finally  to 
its  present  owner.  On  these  experimental  grounds 
have  been  produced,  under  the  personal  inspection 
of  its  present  proprietor,  within  the  last  fifty  years, 
more  than  twelve  hundred  varieties  of  fruits,  and 
from  thence  there  was  exhibited,  on  one  occasion, 
four  hundred  and  four  distinct  varieties  of  the  pear. 
Here  was  originated,  by  the  art  of  hybridization,  the  Ca- 
mellias Wilderi  and  Mrs.  Abby  Wilder,  which  received, 
more  than  thirty  years  ago,  a  special  prize  of  fifty 
dollars;  also  the  Mrs.  Julia  Wilder,  the  Jennie  Wilder, 
and  other  Camellias  of  great  perfection,  and  from  this 
place  went  to  the  Boston  Public  Garden,  on  its  founda- 
tion, in  the  year  1839,  the  entire  collection  of  green- 
house and  garden  plants  to  which  we  have  alluded 
before. 

Roxbury  was  noted  for  its  interest  in  fruit  culture 
at  an  early  period,  as  has  been  seen  by  the  statement 
of  Chief  Justice  Paul  Dudley,  already  quoted.  This 
town  was  remarkable  for  its  production  of  apples  and 
the  quantity  of  cider  manufactured.  The  farm  of 
the  late  Ebenezer  Seaver,  member  of  Congress  from  1803 
to  1813,  was  distinguished  for  the  culture  of  fruit 
This  estate  has  passed  regularly  down  in  the  family  line 
through  Joshua,  Jonathan,  the  Ebenezer  Seavers,  and  the 
Parkers,  lineal  descendants,  who  now  reside  on  it.  In 
the  account  books  of  Jonathan  Seaver,  from  1731  and 


30  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

on,  we  find  that  lie  was  largely  interested  in  the 
manufacture  of  "  Sider."  From  1740  to  1749,  we  find 
the  Reverend  Thomas  Prince,  minister  of  the  Old  South 
Church,  annually  charged  with  from  three  to  five 
barrels  of  "  Sider  "  for  several  years,  and  that  in  April 
24th,  1749,  Mr.  Seaver  credited  him  with  "Thirty 
Pounds  in  Cash,  old  tenor  in  part,  for  Sundries." 

From  the  preceding  extracts  we  may  infer  that  an 
abundance  of  apples  was  raised  at  that  time.  The  old 
and  new  cider  mills  are  remembered  by  Mrs.  Parker,  a 
daughter  of  "  Squire  Seaver,"  who,  at  an  advanced  age, 
still  lives  in  the  old  house.  Large  heaps  of  fragrant 
apples  lay  outside  of  the  mill  in  the  autumn,  and  during 
the  second  Ebenezer  Seaver's  day,  a  little  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  the  bears  were  attracted  to  them 
from  the  "  Rocky  Wilderness  Land "  that  lay  to  the 
southwest,  towards  what  is  now  Forest  Hills.  Upon 
one  occasion  his  bearship  lingered  tasting  till  he  was 
discovered.  Mr.  Seaver  and  his  neighbors  gave  chase, 
and  finally  captured  him  on  the  marsh  land  in  Dor- 
chester in  the  vicinity  of  what  is  now  Crescent  Avenue. 
The  neighbors  were  invited  to  a  feast  in  honor  of  the 
occasion,  at  Mr.  Seaver's  house,  the  bear  furnishing 
the  chief  dish  as  well  as  a  steak  for  each  guest  to  take 
home. 

Mrs.  Parker  remembers  several  large  ancient  pear 
trees  that  stood  on  the  home  lot  and  were  old  and  vig- 
orous when  she  was  young.  An  Orange  and  a  Minot 
pear  tree  of  great  size  in  the  trunk,  and  an  excellent 
pear  for  cooking,  and  a  Gennetin  pear  tree  still  remain 
on  the  lawn,  whose  age  none  can  remember,  which  bears 
two  or  three  bushels  yearly  of  its  small,  early  fruit. 
During  the  period  of  Ebenezer  Seaver's  service  in  Con- 
gress, which  ended  in  1813,  Col.  Matlock,  a  gentleman 
he  met  there,  gave  him  some  scions  from  the  original 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  31 

Seckel  pear  tree,  near  Philadelphia.  He  sent  them  care- 
fully home  in  a  letter,  and  his  son  Jonathan  grafted  them 
before  his  return,  they  being  the  first  of  the  kind,  as 
far  as  he  knew,  in  this  vicinity.  The  tree  is  still 
flourishing,  and  on  Saturday,  September  27th,  1879,  there 
were  picked  from  it  over  two  barrels  of  pears.  One 
individual  pear,  by  actual  measurement,  was  eight  and 
five-eights  inches  each  way  round.  The  family  had 
never  seen  one  to  equal  it  in  size.  There  was  also 
where  Schuyler  street  now  is,  an  immemorial  Iron  pear 
tree,  so  tall  that  the  crown  of  the  tree  was  usually 
not  picked.  In  thq  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and*  the  first  of  the  present,  the  fruit  of  the 
mulberry  was  much  esteemed,  there  being  few  of  the 
many  small  fruits  now  cultivated.  The  widow  of  the 
second  Ebenezer  realized  in  one  season  seventy  dollars 
from  the  fruit  sold  from  one  large  tree  which  stood  in 
front  of  the  house,  beside  using  much  herself  for  the 
entertainment  of  friends.  It  lived  till  after  the  marriage, 
in  1820,  of  the  granddaughter,  who  remembers  it  well. 
This  farm  was  also  celebrated  for  its  cherries,  the  trees 
having  been  blown  down  in  the  gale  of  1815.  The 
late  George  J.  Parker  had  large  fields  of  currants 
and  gooseberries.  There  have  been  gathered  in  one 
year  fifty  barrels  of  gooseberries  from  bushes  that  he 
planted.1 

Prior  to  the  present  century  Judge  John  Lowell  was  a 
leading  patron  in  the  promotion  of  improved  agriculture, 
and  was  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Agriculture,  for  many  years.  He  had  an  orchard, 
garden,  and  one  of  the  first  greenhouses,  and  contributed 
to  the  fund  for  establishing  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Cam- 
bridge.2 This  property  was  inherited  by  his  son,  Hon. 

1  Letter  of  Miss  Parker,  granddaughter  of  Hon.  Eben  Seaver. 

2  Augustus  Lowell's  letter. 


32  THE    HOKTICULTURE    OF 

John  Lowell,  who  was  also  president  for  some  years  of 
the  above-named  society,  and  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
horticulturists  and  agriculturists  in  New  England,  and 
was  styled  by  General  Dearborn  as  the  Columella  of 
the  Northern  States.  He  presided  at  the  preliminary 
meeting  which  eventuated  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society. 

Mr.  Lowell  received  scions  of  fruit  trees  from  Mr. 
Knight,  President  of  the  Horticultural  Society  of  Lon- 
don, and  other  eminent  pomologists  of  Europe,  and  so 
liberally  distributed  them  to  his  friends  that  his  trees 
were  often  crippled  in  their  growth.  Mr.  Lowell  was 
also  interested  in  the  growth  of  exotics,  arid  had  in  his 
collection  some  of  the  first  orchideous  plants  of  which 
we  have  any  record.  Among  his  plants  sixty  years 
ago  he  had  a  famous  Strelitzla  reyina,  which  was  then 
an  object  of  great  curiosity.  No  man  in  the  early  part 
of  this  century  did  more  for  the  promotion  of  pomology 
in  New  England  than  Mr.  Lowell. 

This  estate  was  next  inherited  by  the  Hon.  John  A. 
Lowell,  our  esteemed  and  venerable  citizen,  who 
added  largely  to  its  glass  structures,  one  of  which  was 
an  Orchid  house,  to  contain  the  plants  bequeathed  to 
him  by  John  Wright  Boott,  some  of  which  are  now  at 
the  Botanic  Garden,  Cambridge,  to  which  Mr.  Lowell 
also  gave  a  large  part  of  his  own  Botanical  library. 

In  Roxbury  was  the  garden  of  Gen.  Henry  A.  S. 
Dearborn,  who  will  ever  be  gratefully  remembered  as- 
the  first  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society.  He  was  also  a  great  leader  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery,  and  the  founder 
of  Forest  Hills  Cemetery.  In  his  garden  were  raised 
the  Dearborn  Seedling  pear  and  other  fruits.  He  gave 
several  hundred  ornamental  trees  to  be  planted  at 
Mount  Auburn,  and  was  personally  occupied  in  the 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  33 

laying  out  and  adornment  of  both  this  and  the  Forest 
Hills  Cemetery,  and  to  him  are  the  public  more  indebted 
primarily  for  the  prestige  and  popularity  of  these  in- 
stitutions than  to  any  other  man.  His  labors,  addresses 
and  communications  for  the  press  in  regard  to  the 
science  and  practice  of  horticulture  and  rural  embellish- 
ments, have  given  to  his  name  an  earthly  immortality. 

Here  also  was  the  garden  of  the  late  Enoch  Bar  tie  tt, 
one  of  the  founders  and  first  vice-presidents  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Horticultural  Society,  where  may  now  be 
seen  the  first  Bartlett  pear  trees  imported,  a  variety 
which  is  more  popular  than  any  other  in  our  country. 
These  grounds  were  previously  owned  by  Captain 
Brewer,  on  which  he  had  planted  many  fruit  trees. 
When  Mr.  Bartlett  purchased  this  place  in  1820  he 
found  two  young  trees  which,  on  fruiting,  proved  to  be 
the  above,  both  of  which  still  bear  fruit,  the  largest 
being  over  forty  inches  in  circumference  three  feet 
above  the  ground.  This  pear  was  afterwards  ascer- 
tained to  be  the  Williams  Bon  Chretien,  an  English 
variety.1 

At  Jamaica  Plain  were  the  garden  and  orchard  of 
Captain  John  Prince,  who  was  a  successful  cultivator  of 
fruits  and  flowers.  In  1825  he  had  eleven  varieties  of 
pears,  four  of  plums,  two  of  apricots,  besides  grapes  and 
many  varieties  of  apples.  His  greenhouse  contained 
some  of  the  early  Camellias  introduced  into  New  England, 
among  which  was  a  Double  White,  purchased  of  Joseph 
Barrell,  of  Charlestown,  when  it  was  only  a  foot  high, 
but  a  few  hours  previous  to  Mr.  Barrell's  death. 

One  of  the  most  noted  places  for  the  production  of 
fruits  and  vegetables  in  the  Roxbury  district  for  the 
last  century  is  the  old  Williams  homestead,  on  Wal- 

1  Letter  of  Allen  Putnam. 


34  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

nut  avenue.  This  was  the  home  of  Aaron  Davis 
Williams,  who  succeeded  his  father,  and  who,  during 
a  long  and  useful  life,  contributed  largely  to  the 
advancement  of  the  horticulture  of  our  vicinity.  His 
father,  John  Davis  Williams,  was  celebrated  as  a  culti- 
vator at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  as  was  probably 
his  grandfather  before  him.  From  the  orchards  of  this 
place  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  have  come  to  the 
Boston  market  many  of  the  choicest  fruits  and  vegeta- 
bles that  it  could  boast  of.  This  spot  is  also  memorable 
as  the  birthplace  of  the  brothers  John  Davis  Williams, 
and  Moses  Williams,  so  renowned  as  merchants  of 
Boston,  the  latter  now  surviving  at  ninety  years  in 
a  healthful  old  age,  from  whom  the  writer  has  received 
the  following  letter : 

BOSTON,  May  10,  1881. 

Hon.  MARSHALL  P.  WILDER  :  Dear  Sir, — Your  favor  of  yesterday  was  re- 
ceived this  morning.  The  house  on  Walnut  avenue,  in  the  Roxbury  District, 
where  my  brother,  Aaron  D.  Williams  was  born,  and  where  he  died,  was 
originally  a  Leanto,  two  stories  on  the  front  and  one  story  on  the  rear.  It  was 
inherited  by  my  father,  John  D.  Williams,  who  was  baptised  John,  married 
Hannah  Davis,  and  after  his  marriage,  petitioned  the  legislature,  and  took  the 
name  of  John  Davis  Williams.  My  brother,  the  oldest  child  of  my  father, 
was  baptised  John,  and  after  he  became  a  man,  he  petitioned  the  legislature 
for  leave  to  take  the  name  of  John  Davis  Williams,  instead  of  John  Williams, 
but  as  my  father  was  a  farmer  and  received  but  few  letters,  my  brother  never 
signed  his  name  junior,  as  it  appears  to  me  now  that  it  would  have  been 
proper  for  him  to  have  done.  However,  my  father  received  so  few  letters 
that  no  trouble  ever  arose  on  this  account.  My  father,  and  I  am  almost  cer- 
tain, my  grandfather,  were  born,  at  any  rate,  they  lived,  on  the  same  estate 
where  my  brother  Aaron  D.  was  born  and  where  he  died.  There  was  no 
better  cultivators  of  fruits  and  vegetables  than  my  father,  in  his  day,  and  my 
brother,  Aaron,  in  his.  My  father  left  an  estate  in  1807,  of  $85,000,  all  ac- 
quired by  uncommon  ability,  as  a  cultivator  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  My 
brother  Aaron  made  all  to  thrive  under  his  care,  but  became  too  rich  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  to  give  to  cultivation  his  exclusive  attention. 
Very  truly,  your  friend, 

MOSES  WILLIAMS. 

Another  fine  old  place  in  Eoxbury  to  be  remembered 
was  that  of  Eufus  G.  Amory,  with  its  long  avenues, 
entering  from  Washington  street,  bordered  with  noble 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  35 

elms,  which  still  live.  He  was  much  interested  in  orna- 
mental culture,  importing  trees  and  shrubs  from  Europe, 
and,  it  is  said,  received  our  common  Barberry  bush  at  a 
high  price,  while  he  was  paying  men  at  the  rate  of  five 
shillings  a  day  to  dig  them  out  of  his  own  grounds. 
This  estate,  "Elm  Hill,"  for  a  long  time  was  the  resi- 
dence of  the  late  John  D.  W.  Williams,  but  is  now 
(1881)  being  laid  out  into  streets  and  cut  up  into 
house  lots. 

The  Roxbury  Russet  apple  was  a  great  favorite  a 
hundred  years  ago,  and  many  orchards  produced  from 
five  hundred  to  one  thousand  or  more  barrels  a  year. 
It  is  believed  to  have  originated  on  the  old  farm  of 
Ebenezer  Davis,  where  some  trees  of  the  original 
orchard  still  remain. 

The  farm  of  Samuel  Ward,  now  belonging  to  the 
Brookline  Land  Company,  was  famous  fifty  years  ago 
for  its  Roxbury  Russet  apples,  often  producing  a  thou- 
sand barrels  a  year ;  and  also  for  cherries,  sending  to 
market  forty  to  fifty  bushels  daily  in  the  season,  and 
occasionally  a  four-ox  team  to  Providence  with  seventy- 
five  bushels  of  cherries. 

Among  the  orchards  of  early  times  were  those  of  the 
Curtises,  at  Jamaica  Plain.  These  have  passed  down 
to  the  present  occupants  in  direct  lineal  descent,  and 
from  them  immense  crops  of  apples  have  been  sent  to 
the  Boston  market,  in  which  the  Curtises  are  the  largest 
dealers  and  exporters  of  this  fruit,  shipping  them  by 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  barrels  to  foreign  ports.1 

Nor  should  we  omit  the  ancestral  home  of  our  worthy 
citizen,  Aaron  Davis  Weld,  in  West  Roxbury,  so  cele- 
brated for  its  orchards  in  olden  time,  and  for  the 
last  forty  years  for  its  famous  apples  and  the  renowned 
Weld  farm  cider  and  vinegar,  where  now  are  grown 

l  Charles  F.  Cu/tis's  letter. 


36  THE    HOKTICULTURE    OF 

great  crops  of  fruits  in  addition  to  two  hundred  tons 
of  hay  a  year. 

In  Roxbury,  too,  is  the  splendid  estate  of  William 
Gray,  Jr.,  on  the  borders  of  Dorchester,  ex-president 
of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society.  This  was 
formerly  a  portion  of  the  celebrated  estate  of  Col.  Swan, 
long  imprisoned  in  France  for  debt  not  of  his  own  con- 
tracting, and  one  of  those  who  helped  throw  the  tea 
into  the  harbor.1  Here  Mr.  Gray  has  offered  the  public 
fine  illustrations  of  landscape  gardening  by  the  laying 
out  of  his  beautiful  grounds.  From  his  conservatories 
and  grounds  our  exhibitions  have  been  constantly 
enriched  with  rare  and  costly  plants,  and  his  enterprise 
keep  up  with  the  progress  of  the  age,  having  for  the 
last  three  years  won  the  $150  Silver  Cup  for  his  roses. 

Roxbury,  from  the  early  part  of  this  century,  was 
distinguished  for  its  greenhouses.  We  have  alluded  to 
the  Lowells  and  others  reaching  back  to  that  time. 
Among  those  of  the  present  century  was  that  of  John 
Lemist,  who  was  lost  on  the  ill-fated  steamboat  Lex- 
ington on  the  route  from  Boston  to  Providence  in  1840. 
This  place  was  formerly  the  residence  of  Judge 
Auchmuty.  He  being  a  tory  his  property  was  con- 
fiscated. Gov.  Increase  Sumner  was  afterwards  the 
owner,  then  Beza  Tucker,  and  in  1824  it  passed  io  Mr. 
Lemist*  His  greenhouses  and  grapery,  under  the  care 
of  a  Scotch  gardener,  John  R.  Russell,  became  quite 
noted.  His  collection  of  plants,  especially  camellias, 
gardenias  and  roses,  was  considered  as  remarkable, 
and  he  often  obtained  one  dollar  or  more  for  a  cut 
flower  of  the  Double  White  Camellia. 

The  gardens  and  nurseries  of  Samuel  Walker,  fifth 
president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 

i  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Amory's  letter. 

*  See  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  II  ,  p.  343. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  37 

were  situated  in  Roxbury,  opposite  the  estate  of  Gov. 
Eustis.  Mr.  Walker  was  prominent  in  his  efforts  to 
advance  horticulture,  and  made  his  home  in  a  garden. 
He  was  a  zealous  and  experienced  cultivator  of  plants 
and  fruit  trees.  He  bestowed  great  attention  on  the 
cultivation  of  the  dahlia,  tulip  and  pansy.  He  annually 
gave  public  exhibitions  of  the  tulip  under  a  canvas 
tent  erected  for  the  purpose,  and  had  costly  varieties, 
such  as  Louis  XVI.  and  others,  valued  at  £10  to  £15 
for  a  single  bulb.  His  nurseries  were,  for  many  years, 
noted  for  their  excellence,  and  his  fruits  on  exhibition 
were  of  the  first  class,  among  which  was  the  Mount 
Vernon  pear,  which  he  had  produced  from  seed. 

On  the  borders  of  Jamaica  Pond  is  the  garden  of 
Francis  Parkman,  LL.  D.,  ex-president  of  the  Horticul- 
tural Society,  who  has  become  almost  as  widely  known 
for  his  experience  in  hybridizing  plants  as  for  his  his- 
torical writings.  By  the  process  of  hybridizing  he 
obtained  the  Lilium  Parkmanii,  for  the  stock  of  which 
a  florist  in  London  gave  him  one  thousand  dollars. 

Roxbury  has  been  renowned  for  the  many  varieties 
of  fruits  which  have  been  originated  within  her  borders. 
Of  these  may  be  named  the  famous  Roxbury  Russet, 
Williams'  Favorite,  and  Seaver  Sweet  apples;  the 
Dearborn's  Seedling,  Lewis,  Merriam,  Dana's  Hovey, 
and  Mount  Vernon  pears. 

In  Milton  are  numerous  fine  estates  which,  under 
modern  horticultural  skill,  are  worthy  of  remembrance, 
such  as  the  summer  residences  of  Henry  P.  Kidder, 
Francis  Peabody,  Robert  B.  and  John  M.  Forbes,  Mrs. 
F.  Cunningham,  Miss  Russell,  and  John  W.  Brooks, 
whose  pear  orchard  contains  six  hundred  trees  of  the 
Beurre  d'Anjou,  generally  considered  u  the  best." 
Nor  would  we  omit  the  residence  of  Col.  Henry  S. 
Russell,  in  olden  time  of  Francis  Amory,  now  the 


38  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

"Home  Farm,"  with  its  world-renowned  "Smuggler" 
breed  of  horses,  its  extensive  avenues  of  old  oaks,  wal- 
nuts, elms,  maples  and  pines,  its  broad  landscape  and 
ornamental  grounds. 

The  town  of  Brookline  has  been  celebrated,  from  an 
early  date  for  the  elegant  residences  of  our  wealthy 
merchants  and  opulent  citizens,  and  for  its  gardens, 
orchards,  and  ornamental  grounds.  "  Brookline  was,  for 
a  long  time,  preeminent  in  the  little  cordon  of  towns 
which  have  so  long  constituted  the  exquisite  envi- 
rons of  Boston,  embossing  it  with  rich  and  varied  mar- 
gins of  lawn  and  lake  and  meadow  and  wooded  hillside, 
and  encircling  its  old  "plain  neck,"  as  Wood  called 
it  in  his  "New  England's  Prospect,"  with  an  unfading 
wreath  of  bloom  and  verdure.1  Here  were  the  homes 
of  the  Ainorys,  the  Aspinwalls,  the  Perkinses,  Sulli- 
vans,  Sargents,  Lees,  Gardners,  Tappans,  of  Gen.  Theo- 
dore Lyman,  Benjamin  Guild,  Nathaniel  Ingersoll  Bow- 
ditch,  John  E.  Thayer,  and  others,  who  have  been 
patrons  of  horticultural  improvement;  and  although 
the  citizens  of  Brookline  protested  in  1773  against 
the  introduction  of  the  leaves  of  the  Tea  plant  without 
their  consent,  they  have  been  proverbially  friends  of 
rural  taste  and  the  adornment  of  their  residences  with 
other  beautiful  trees  and  plants. 

In  the  very  early  part  of  this  century  the  gardens 
and  greenhouses  of  Col.  Thomas  Handasyd  Perkins 
were  particularly  distinguished.  Col.  Perkins  was  one 
of  the  most  eminent  merchants  of  our  city,  and  his 
public  benefactions,  especially  in  founding  the  Institu- 
tion for  the  Blind,  will  ever  be  gratefully  remembered. 
He  and  his  brother,  Samuel  G.  Perkins,  inherited  a  love 
for  fruits  and  flowers  from  their  grandmother,  Mrs.  Ed- 

iMr.  Winthrop's  Address  at  the  dedication   of  the  new   Town   Hall  of 
Brookline. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  39 

mund  Perkins,  who  was  Edna  Frothingham,  of  Charles- 
town.  Col.  Perkins'  residence  in  France  and  other  for- 
eign lands,  where  he  had  seen  fine  fruits  and  flowers, 
stimulated  his  natural  taste,  and  induced  him  to  purchase 
this  estate  in  1800,  when  he  commenced  the  building  of 
his  house,  the  laying  out  of  his  grounds,  and  the  erec- 
tion of  greenhouses  and  glass  structures  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  fruits  and  flowers,  and  until  the  establishment 
of  the  magnificent  conservatories  and  fruit  houses  of 
his  nephew,  John  Perkins  Gushing,  at  Watertown  (now 
the  residence  of  Samuel  R.  Payson,  which  still  exists 
in  the  highest  state  of  improvement),  his  place  was 
considered  the  most  advanced  in  horticultural  science 
of  any  in  New  England.  For  fifty  years  Col.  Perkins' 
estate  was  kept  in  the  best  manner  by  experienced  for- 
eign gardeners,  and  at  an  expense  of  more  than  ten 
thousand  dollars  annually.  He  frequently  received 
trees  and  plants  from  Europe,  the  products  of  which 
were  prominent  at  the  exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society.  In  1840  he  introduced  the  Vic- 
toria Hamburg,  West's  St.  Peter's,  and  Cannon  Hall 
Muscat  grape  vines,  which  were  presented  to  him  by 
Sir  Joseph  Paxton,  gardener  to  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire. Col.  P.  gave  a  description  of  the  conservatory 
of  the  Duke :  275  feet  long  by  130  wide,  and  65  feet 
high,  costing  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars, 
or  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling. 

Next  to  be  named  were  the  garden  and  fruit  houses 
of  Samuel  G.  Perkins,  which  were  presented  to  him 
by  his  brother,  Col.  Perkins.  They  were  selected  on 
account  of  being  situated  between  the  Colonel's  and 
James  Perkins'  beautiful  estate  at  Pine  Bank,  an  elder 
brother,  and  where  now  resides  his  grandson,  E.  N. 
Perkins,  as  a  favorable  location  for  Samuel  to  indulge 
his  natural  taste,  and  the  skill  which  he  had  acquired 


40  THE   HOKTICULTURE    OF 

in  horticultural  science  by  residing  in  foreign  lands, 
and  by  his  acquaintance  with  experienced  cultiva- 
tors of  both  fruits  and  flowers.  His  fruit  houses  were 
two  hundred  feet  in  length,  in  and  around  which  were 
grown  the  choicest  varieties  of  grapes,  peaches  and 
plums  ;  there  the  Golden  Nectarine  was  produced  from 
the  stone  planted  by  him.  Mr.  Perkins  was  the  intro- 
ducer of  the  Duchesse  d'Angouleme  pear,  the  Franconia 
raspberry,  and  other  fruits  from  France.  He  attended 
personally  to  the  pruning  and  cultivation  of  his  trees, 
and  his  success  was  greater  than  that  of  his  brother. 
Mr.  Samuel  G.  Perkins  usually  wore  a  button-hole 
bouquet  in  the  lappel  of  his  coat,  and  was  fond  of  sur- 
prising his  brother  with  superior  fruits.  One  day  he 
came  with  a  basket  of  gorgeous  grapes,  peaches  and 
apricots,  and  said:  "Brother  Tom,  I  know  you  love 
fine  fruit,  and  fearing  you  do  not  often  get  it,  I  have 
brought  you  something  worth  having."  "Thank  you, 
Brother  Sam,  I  try  to  be  contented  with  what  I  have, 
and  I  certainly  should  be  if  you  were  not  always  burst- 
ing in  and  giving  me  something  that  makes  me  envy 
you."  x 

In  Brookline  is  the  old  Aspinwall  estate.  This  was  the 
birthplace  of  our  beloved  citizen,  the  late  Col.  Thomas 
Aspinwall,  where  still  remains  the  same  old  mansion* 
house  in  which  he  and  his  father,  Dr.  William  Aspinwall, 
were  born.  .The  "Aspinwall  House  "  was  built  by  Peter 
Aspinwall  in  1660,  is  now  owned  (1880)  by  Hon. 
William  Aspinwall,  and  has  never  been  out  of  the 
possession  of  descendants  of  the  same  name.  Here 
were  planted  by  Dr.  William  Aspinwall  extensive 
orchards  of  Baldwin  and  Koxbury  Russet  apples,  and 
other  fruits.  Some  few  trees  are  still  remaining  near 

l  Letter  of  Augustus  T.  Perkins. 

*  See  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  I.,  p.  221. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  41 

the  old  house.  So  plenty  were  peaches  that  the  pigs 
were  turned  into  the  orchard  to  eat  up  the  surplus,  and 
this  ground  is  still  called  the  "  old  peach  orchard."  On 
a  portion  of  the  Aspinwall  estate,  Mr.  Augustus  Aspin- 
wall,  a  distinguished  merchant  and  horticulturist,  one 
of  the  first  board  of  counsellors  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society,  devoted  a  part  of  his  time  to 
horticultural  pursuits,  erecting  two  extensive  graperies. 
He  was  eminently  successful  as  a  cultivator  of  the  rose 
of  which  he  made  frequent  exhibitions.  The  old  Aspin- 
wall Elm,  formerly  so  renowned,  which  stood  at  the 
corner  of  the  old  house,  was  destroyed  by  the  gale  of 
September,  1863.  Dr.  George  B.  Emerson,  in  his 
report  on  the  trees  and  shrubs  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
edition  of  1846,  says :  "The  Aspinwall  Elm  in  Brookline, 
standing  near  the  ancient  house  belonging  to  that 
family,  and  which  was  known  to  be  181  years  old  in 
1837,  then  measured  26  feet  5  inches  at  the  ground, 
or  as  near  to  it  as  the  roots  would  allow  us  to  measure, 
and  16  feet  8  inches  at  five  feet.  The  branches 
extended  104  feet  from  southeast  to  northwest,  and  95 
from  northeast  to  southwest,"  Some  persons  believe 
that  this  old  elm  was  coeval  in  age  with  the  purchase 
by  Peter  Aspinwall  in  1650.  The  Aspinwall  estate  is 
now  the  property  of  the  Aspinwall  Land  Co.1 

The  most  extensive  and  elegant  estate  in  Brookline 
is  that  of  the  venerable  Ignatius  Sargent,  whose  success 
in  grape  culture  forty  years  ago  was  so  great  that  he  ex- 
hibited bunches  of  the  Black  Hamburg  grape  weighing 
from  four  to  six  pounds.  On  these  grounds  is  the 
beautiful  cottage  of  his  son,  Professor  Charles  S.  Sargent, 
on  the  site  of  the  residence  of  the  late  Thomas  Lee, 

the  donor  to  the  city  of  the  Lethean  statue  on  the 

* 

1  Letter  of  Hon.  Wm.  Aspinwall. 


42  THE   HORTICULTUKE    OF 

Boston  Public  Garden,  and  of  the  statue  of  Hamilton 
on  Commonwealth  Avenue,  and  who  was  thirty  years 
ago  much  interested  in  the  growth  of  rhododendrons, 
azaleas  and  other  plants.  Under  the  supervision  of 
Professor  Sargent,  this  place,  with  its  magnificent  land- 
scape, its  conservatories  of  plants,  and  its  extensive 
collection  of  conifers,  rhododendrons  and  azaleas,  is 
every  year  thrown  open  to  the  public.  With  its  exten- 
sive and  rare  collection  of  native  and  foreign  trees  and 
shrubs,  and  its  wide  and  grand  embrace  of  one  hundred 
acres  in  extent,  this  estate  is  one  of  great  interest  for 
the  study  of  landscape  and  ornamental  culture. 

General  Lyman,  to  whom  we  have  alluded,  expended 
large  sums  of  money  in  the  erection  of  his  house  in 
1842,  of  which  Kichard  Upjohn  was  the  architect.  He 
improved  the  premises  by  grading  the  lawn,  planting 
trees,  and  building  graperies,  all  of  which  have  been 
further  improved  by  his  worthy  son,  Col.  Theodore, 
who  still  resides  there,  and  whose  son  of  the  same 
name,  a  promising  lad,  we  hope  will  live  to  per- 
petuate the  memory  of  Theodore  Lyman.  Here 
remain  some  of  the  grand  old  trees  planted  by  the 
father  of  our  venerable  citizen,  Jonathan  Mason,  who 
still  lives  at  the  advanced  age  of  nearly  ninety  years. 
General  Lyman  was  a  patron  of  horticulture,  agricul- 
ture, and  moral  reform.*  He  gave  over  seventy 
thousand  dollars  to  found  the  State  Reform  School  at 
Westborough ;  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Farm  School, 
in  Boston  Harbor,  and  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural  Society. 

In  Brookline,  also,  is  the  elegant  villa,  with  its  splen- 
did avenues  and  grounds,  of  the  late  John  Eliot  Thayer, 
left  by  him  to  Mrs.  Thayer,  now  Mrs.  Robert  C.  Win- 

*  See  Mr.  Bugbee's  chapter  in  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  III. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  43 

throp,  where  a  most  generous  hospitality,  and  cordial 
welcome  are  extended  to  the  numerous  friends  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Winthrop,  both  of  our  own  and  foreign  lands. 

Here,  also,  are  the  fine  estate  and  extensive  glass 
structures  of  John  Lowell  Gardner,  to  whom  we  have 
alluded  already,  by  whose  liberality  for  a  long 
course  of  years  the  exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society  have  been  graced  and  enriched 
by  elegant  plants  and  products  from  the  hands  of  his 
experienced  gardener,  Mr.  Atkinson.  Mr.  Gardner's 
mother  was  sister  to  the  Hon.  John  Lowell,  and  he  in- 
herits the  same  taste  for  rural  life  and  culture  for  which 
Mr.  Lowell  was  so  renowned.  His  father,  as  we  have 
seen,  also  possessed  like  tastes,  when  they  resided  in 
Summer  street,  where  foreign  grapes  and  pears  were 
grown  in  open  air.  The  Saint  Germain  pear  was  very 
large;  and  of  the  Brown  Beurre,  Mr.  Gardner  says:  "I 
have  never  seen  finer  specimens." 

No  doubt  good  gardens  were  early  made  at  Muddy 
Brook  when  it  was  a  part  of  Boston.  The  elegant 
estate  of  the  Hon.  Amos  A.  Lawrence  at  Long  wood, 
was  once  the  farm  of  Judge  Sewall,  on  which  there 
are  relics  of  pear  culture.  One  of  the  trees,  a  very  large 
one,  was  destroyed  by  a  gale  several  years  ago.  The 
largest  which  remains,  though  with  lessened  propor- 
tions, now  measures,  at  six  inches  above  the  ground, 
nine  feet  two  inches  in  circumference.  Thirty  years 
ago  it  bore  what  is  called  the  Button  -pear,  but  has 
since  been  regrafted  with  another  variety.  Judge 
Sewall,  in  his  diary  between  1680  and  1700,  mentions 
grafting  trees  at  his  house  in  Boston  with  "Button 
pears."  The  grafts  were  probably  taken  from  this  tree.1 
Hon.  William  Amory  has  a  lovely  place  at  Longwood. 

l  Hon.  Amos  A.  Lawrence's  letter. 


44  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

Cambridge  was  celebrated  for  her  gardens  and  the 
ornamental  culture  of  her  grounds,  even  before  the 
commencement  of  this  present  century.  "  At  the  close 
of  the  Revolution  Andrew  Cragie  purchased  the  Wash- 
ington headquarters,  now  the  residence  of  the  poet 
Longfellow,  enlarged  the  house,  and  laid  out  the 
grounds  in  the  taste  of  that  period.  The  stream  sur- 
rounding a  small  island,  with  a  few  pine  trees  upon  it, 
may  still  be  seen.  On  the  western  side  of  the  man- 
sion the  tall  hedges  and  clumps  of  lilacs  are  all  that 
remain  of  this  early  garden. 

Mr.  Cragie  had  a  greenhouse  on  the  grounds  where 
the  dormitory  of  the  Episcopal  Seminary  now  stands. 
This  structure  was  burnt  about  1840.  He  also  had  an  ice 
house,  an  almost  unknown  luxury  in  those  days.  Some 
people  thought  a  judgment  would  befall  one  who  would 
thus  attempt  to  thwart  the  designs  of  Providence  by 
raising  flowers  under  glass  in  winter,  and  keeping  ice 
under  ground  to  cool  the  heat  of  summer,  which 
now  seems  to  have  been  the  forerunners  of  two  great 
institutions  in  Cambridge,  —  ice  in  summer,  and  flow- 
ers in  winter. 

Thomas  Brattle,  born  in  Cambridge  in  1742,  became 
a  royalist  refugee  in  1775,  and  was  banished  by  the 
act  of  1778.  But  in  1784  he  returned  to  Cambridge, 
his  property  being  restored  to  him,  took  possession  of 
his  patrimony,  the  house  which  now  bears  his  name, 
next  to  the  University  Press,  began  to  improve  his 
grounds  according  to  the  taste  of  a  century  ago,  and 
from  that  time  until  his  death,  in  1801,  his  garden, 
possessing  a  profusion  of  fruits  and  flowers,  was  the 
boast  of  Cambridge.  His  house  was  built  by  his  father 
in  1742,  when  was  planted,  probably,  the  square  of 
English  lindens  which  so  long  formed  a  green  canopy 
around  it,  but  which  have  all  fallen  by  the  tooth  of 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  45 

time,  the  last  one  disappearing  about  fifteen  years  ago. 
Mr.  Brattle,  with  a  native  taste  for  horticulture,  and  his 
observation  acquired  in  foreign  lands,  no  doubt  laid 
out  his  grounds  in  the  latest  styles  of  Europe,  having 
a  spring  of  pure  water,  a  marble  grotto,  a  pond  for 
gold  fish,  and  a  parterre  for  aquatic  plants  on  a  lower 
level,  where  the  University  Press  stands.  His  lawn 
was  so  velvet-like  that  it  was  said  it  could  only  be 
improved  by  combing  it  with  a  fine-tooth  comb. 

The  most  remarkable  fruit  garden  in  Cambridge  dur- 
ing the  last  century  was  that  of  Bosenger  Foster,  who 
lived  on  the  estate  occupied  by  the  late  venerable  and 
worthy  Samuel  Batchelder,  who  died  a  few  years  ago  at 
the  age  of  ninety-two.  [This  estate  is  now  occupied 
by  Mr.  Thomas  P.  James,  who  married  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Batchelder.]  The  garden  is  still  partially 
enclosed  by  a  brick  wall,  which  has  been  a  land- 
mark on  Brattle  street  for  the  last  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  Here  was  probably  the  first  extensive  col- 
lection of  pear  trees  in  a  region  now  famous  for  its 
fine  fruits.  Mr.  Foster  imported  the  most  celebrated 
French  pears,  some  trees  of  which  attained  great  size; 
a  few  of  them,  with  a  most  beautiful  black  mulberry 
tree,  ornament  the  place,  and  still  bear  fruit.  Here 
are  still  large  Hawthorn  trees,  which  it  is  believed 
were  planted  by  the  Vassalls  in  1730,  and  which  still 
produce  a  profusion  of  white  blossoms,  and  are  a 
harbor  for  winter  birds  who  feed  on  the  ripe  haws. 

Here,  near  by,  is  the  historic  Washington  elm, 
much  shorn  of  its  glory,  believed  to  be  one  of 
a  row  of  trees  planted  about  two  hundred  years  ago. 
Under  it  Washington  took  command  of  the  Amer- 
ican army,  and  at  that  time  it  must  have  attained 
its  first  century.  Here,  too,  is  the  old  Whitefield  elm, 
of  about  the  same  size,  which  was  cut  down  some  ten 


46  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

or  twenty  years  ago,  and  under  which  Whitefield 
preached  in  1740,  when  he  was  not  allowed  to  enter 
any  pulpit  in  Cambridge.  Only  one  of  this  row 
survives.1 

Cambridge  has  been  renowned  for  the  culture  of 
fruits,  especially  of  the  pear  and  plum,  as  the  exhibi- 
tions of  the  last  fifty  years  have  shown.  Here  were 
the  experimental  grounds  and  nurseries  of  Samuel 
Pond,  Henry  Vandine,  and  numerous  gardens  of  fruit 
trees. 

Cambridge  has  possessed  the  most  extensive  nurseries 
and  plant-houses  of  any  place  in  New  England.  Here 
Mr.  P.  B.  Hovey,  with  his  brother,  Charles  M.  Hovey, 
established  more  than  forty  years  ago,  upon  a  piece  of 
wild  woodland,  the  famous  nursery  of  Hovey  &  Co.,  for 
the  sale  of  trees  and  plants,  and  here  under  the  super- 
vision and  direction  of  the  latter  gentleman,  associated 
with  their  sons  in  the  profession,  he  has  supervised 
and  carried  on  the  raising  and  testing  of  fruits,  the 
raising  of  seeds,  and  the  hybridization  and  acquisition  of 
plants  which  have  given  him  and  his  brother  a  renowned 
reputation  as  horticulturists  both  at  home  and  in  foreign 
lands.  Mr.  Hovey's  love  of  nature  and  his  ambitious 
and  enterprising  disposition  have  inspired  him  to  prove 
under  his  own  personal  inspection  every  thing  in  the 
way  of  horticulture  that  seemed  desirable.  In  the 
department  of  Pomology  there  have  been  fruited  and 
proved  on  these  grounds  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
varieties  of  fiuits,  and  from  them  there  have  been  ex- 
hibited on  a  single  occasion  three  hundred  varieties  of 
pears.  Here  were  raised  by  the  crossing  of  the  straw- 
berry the  Boston  Pine  and  Hovey's  Seedling  strawberry, 
the  last  named  being  still,  after  almost  fifty  years  of 
trial,  one  of  our  finest  varieties  in  cultivation. 

1  Letter  of  Mrs.  Isabella  James. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  47 

The  collection  of  plants  contains  grand  old  speci- 
mens, which  are  the  result  of  many  years  of  patience 
and  toil.  Some  of  the  Chinese  and  other  palms  are 
fifty  years  old  and  twelve  feet  high.  Here  was  early 
commenced  the  hybridization  of  plants,  by  which 
have  been  produced  some  of  the  most  remarkable 
Camellias  our  country  can  boast  of : — such  as  Mrs.  Anne 
Marie  Hovey,  Charles  M.  Hovey,  Charles  H.  Hovey, 
and  others,  for  some  of  which  they  received  the  gold 
medal  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  and 
also  a  first  class  certificate  by  the  London  Horticultural 
Society.  Many  of  these  Mr.  C.  M.  Hovey  exhibited  in 
London,  in  person.  The  Camellia  house  of  Hovey  & 
Co.  is  one  hundred  feet  long,  forty  feet  wide  and  twenty- 
five  feet  high,  and  it  contains  some  of  the  largest 
Camellias  in  the  country,  all  planted  in  the  ground. 
Here  are  twenty  other  houses  for  the  growth  of  plants. 

The  collection  of  Hovey  &  Co.  contains  hundreds  of 
species  and  varieties  of  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs, 
among  which  are  remarkable  specimens  of  elegant  and 
curious  trees  worthy  of  the  long  life  which  it  has  taken 
to  produce  them.  Mr.  C.  M.  Hovey,  for  four  years  pres- 
ident of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  was 
the  editor  of  the  Magazine  of  Horticulture  for  thirty- 
four  years, — the  whole  period  of  its  existence.  These 
volumes  contain  a  vast  amount  of  horticultural  and 
kindred  matter,  and  as  books  of  reference  are  of  very 
great  value  to  all  lovers  of  the  art.  Triumphing  over 
all  obstacles,  and  working  with  a  zeal  that  never  tires, 
he  still  lives  to  promote  the  great  cause  to  which  he 
has  devoted  his  life. 

The  city  of  Newton,  with  her  eight  villages,  and 
with  a  numerous  population  of  active  business 
people  has  made,  perhaps,  as  great  advances  in  horti- 
cultural science,  as  any  other  area  of  the  same  size 


48  THE    HORTICULTUKE    OF 

around  Boston.  Here  are  numerous  beautiful  resi- 
dences, with  highly  cultivated  gardens,  orchards,  and 
well  kept  grounds;  and  just  beyond,  in  Natick,  where 
the  Apostle  Eliot  planted  his  apple  trees,  are  cultivators 
of  the  rose,  whose  sales  amount  to  thousands  of  dollars 
annually. 

Newton  and  Brighton  have  been  noted  for  their  cul- 
tivation of  fruits,  trees  and  plants  for  nearly  a  hundred 
years.  The  first  nursery  of  any  considerable  note  in 
New  England  was  commenced  by  John  Kenrick,  of  New- 
ton, in  1790,  by  the  raising  of  peach  trees  from  the 
stone,  to  which  he  added  in  a  few  years  the  apple,  cherry, 
and  other  fruit  trees.  In  1797  he  commenced  a  nursery 
of  qrnamental  trees,  two  acres  of  which  were  planted 
with  the  Lombardy  poplar,  then  a  most  esteemed  but 
now  despised  tree.  His  nurseries  became  the  most  ex- 
tensive in  New  England.  In  1823  Mr.  Kenrick  took  his 
elder  son,  William,  into  partnership,  and  continued  the 
business  until  his  decease  in  1833.  Peaches  and  cur- 
rants were  here  extensively  cultivated,  and  there  were 
manufactured  in  1826  three  thousand  and  six  hundred 
gallons  of  currant  wine.  William  Kenrick's  nursery  at 
Nonantum  Hill  in  Newton,  established  in  1823,  contin- 
ued for  twenty-seven  years,  and  for  a  part  of  this  time 
he  imported  and  sold  more  fruit  trees  than  any  other 
nurseryman  in  New  England.  John  A.  Kenrick,  brother 
of  William,  also  pursued  the  nursery  business  on  the  old 
estate  until  his  death  in  1870.1  William  Kenrick  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
a  zealous,  enterprising  citizen,  and  the  author  of  the  "New 
American  Orcharclist,"  and  a  public  writer.  He  entered 
largely  into  the  Morus  Multicaulis  speculation,  propa- 
gating hundreds  of  thousands  of  this  tree  both  on  his 

1  History  of  the  Mass.  Hort.  Soc.,  pp.  33,  34. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  49 

own  grounds  and  other  land  which  he  had  taken  up  in 
the  South. 

James  Hyde  established  a  small  nursery  of  fruit  trees 
about  the  year  1800,  when  he  was  eighteen  years  old, 
This  was  enlarged  from  time  to  time,  and  in  1842 
our  respected  friend,  James  F.  C.  Hyde,  since  presi- 
dent of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  became 
a  partner  with  his  father,  and  for  many  years  carried  on 
the  business  with  success.  To  this  day  he  possesses  the 
same  love  of  rural  life  and  interest  in  fruits  and  flowers, 
especially  in  testing  by  personal  experience  the  new 
varieties  that  come  to  his  notice,  and  writing  for  the 
press. 

In  Brighton  there  was  a  nursery  established  in  1816, 
by  Jonathan  Winship,  also  a  founder  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society.  In  1826  he  associated  with 
him  his  brother  Francis,  and  carried  on  the  general 
nursery  business  on  an  extensive  scale  for  many  years. 
They  also  had  greenhouses  for  the  propagation  of  plants 
being  among  the  earliest  growers  of  ornamental  trees 
and  plants  for  sale.  They  furnished  the  city  of  Boston 
largely  for  planting  its  Common  and  streets  ;  also,  other 
cities  and  many  of  the  cemeteries,  having  at  that  time, 
the  largest  collection  of  such  in  this  section  of  the 
country,  and  were  among  the  first  to  send  cut  flowers 
to  the  Boston  markets  for  sale.  To  their  collection 
Sir  Admiral  Isaac  Coffin  made  valuable  donations  which 
he  collected  in  Europe.1 

The  nursery  and  plant  business  was  in  later  years 
carried  on  in  Brighton  by  Joseph  Breck,  and  James 
L.  L.  F.  Warren,  and  now  by  William  C.  Strong  and 
Charles  H.  B.  Breck  and  Sons.  Forty  years  since  Mr. 
Warren  was  largely  interested  in  the  cultivation  of 

l  Letter  of  Lyman  F.   Winship.     Also,  chapter  in  Boston  Memorial  on 
Brighton,  Vol.  III. 


50  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

ornamental  and  greenhouse  plants,  and  had  public 
exhibitions  of  the  tulip  and  other  bulbous  plants.  Having 
possessed  himself  of  the  stock  of  the  Camellias  Wilderi, 
and  Mrs.  Abby  Wilder,  he  propagated  them  largely  and 
went  to  Europe  with  them,  where  he  made  considera- 
ble sales.  Mr.  Warren  is  now  in  California,  and  has 
been  editor  of  the  "  California  Farmer  "  for  more  than 
thirty  years. 

Joseph  Breck,  afterwards  president,  and  one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  had  grounds  in  Brighton  for  the  cultivation  of 
ornamental  plants  and  the  production  of  seeds,  and  his 
name  is  still  continued  in  the  firm  of  Joseph  Breck  and 
Sons,  the  oldest  seed  house  in  New  England,  it  having 
existed  more  than  fifty  years,  succeeding  that  of  John  B. 
Russell,  to  whom  we  shall  allude  hereafter.  Mr.  Breck 
was  one  of  the  foremost  promoters  of  the  culture  of 
fruits  and  flowers,  and  wrrote  frequently  for  the  press. 
He  was  proprietor  and  for  some  years  the  editor  of  the 
"  Horticultural  Register."  and  other  works.  His  Book 
of  Flowers  has  passed  through  many  editions,  and  has 
a  very  wide  circulation. 

The  nurseries  and  plant-houses  of  William  C.  Strong, 
ex-president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society, 
are  worthy  of  special  notice  for  the  enterprise  and  intelli- 
gence of  their  proprietor.  Here,  under  one  continuous 
roof  of  glass  of  18,000  square  feet,  is  an  enclosure  where 
plants  are  grown  as  in  the  open  ground ;  where  immense 
quantities  of  the  rose  and  other  flowers  are  daily  cut  for 
the  market.  The  estate  of  Mr.  Strong  was  once  owned 
by  Jonathan  Amory,  father  of  Hon.  Thomas  C.  Amory, 
and  about  forty  years  ago  was  possessed  by  Horace 
Gray,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  connection  with  the 
establishment  of  the  Public  Garden,  in  Boston.  He 
erected  on  these  grounds  the  largest  grape-houses  then 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  51 

known  in  the  United  States,  in  which  were  grown  ex- 
tensively numerous  varieties  of  foreign  grapes.  For  the 
testing  of  these  under  glass  in  cold  houses,  Mr.  Gray 
erected  a  large  curvilinear-roof  house,  two  hundred 
feet  long  by  twenty-four  wide.  This  was  such  a  great 
success  that  he  built  two  more  of*the  same  dimensions. 

In  addition  to  these,  Brighton,  in  the  early  part  of 
this  century,  was  the  residence  of  several  celebrated 
agriculturists  and  horticulturists.  Here  were  the 
orchards  of  Gorham  Parsons,  who  also  had  others  at 
By  field ;  of  S.  W.  Pomroy,  Mr.  Faneuil,  Samuel  Brooks, 
and  others;  and  here  for  many  years  were  held  the 
exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting 
Agriculture,  with  great  success,  under  the  patronage 
and  supervision  of  such  leaders  as  John  Lowell,  John 
Welles,  Peter  C.  Brooks,  Gen.  Dearborn,  Josiah  Quincy, 
John  Prince,  and  the  gentlemen  above  named. 

There  is  a  splendid  illustration  of  the  wonderful 
progress  of  horticultural  improvement  and  refined  taste 
that  cannot  be  omitted,  and  may,  without  detraction 
from  any  other,  be  considered  as  standing  at  the 
head  of  all  others  in  New  England,  if  not  in  our 
country.  This  is  in  Wellesley,  the  estate  of  Mr.  H. 
Hollis  Hunnewell,  comprising  in  all,  with  its  fields  and 
forests,  about  five  hundred  acres,  on  which  he  com- 
menced his  operations  about  thirty  years  ago.  The 
ornamental  part  contains  about  forty  acres  from  which 
he  cleared  the  wild  growth  of  scrub  oaks,  pitch  pines, 
and  other  worthless  trees  and  shrubs  before  he  com- 
menced work  upon  it.  He  then  laid  out  his  splendid 
avenues  and  plots,  and  commenced  the  planting  of 
his  most  interesting  and  instructive  collection  of  hardy 
trees  and  plants,  not  only  of  our  own  country,  but  of 
all  such,  from  California,  Japan,  and  other  lands,  that 
would  endure  our  climate.  His  collection  of  rhododen- 


52  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

drons  and  azaleas,  the  largest  in  our  country,  embraces 
many  thousands  of  plants,  to  which  he  is  constantly 
adding    everything    new    and    rare,    demonstrating, 
beyond  doubt,  that  a.  very  large  number  of  varieties 
grown  in  Europe  may  be  successfully  cultivated  in 
our  climate.     Of  such  as  are  somewhat  tender  he  has 
the  choicest  varieties,  which  he  stores  in  cool  pits  in 
the  winter,  planting  them  out  in  the  spring  under  an 
immense  canvass  tent  of  seven  thousand  square  feet, 
and  these,  with  the  whole  of  his  magnificent  estate, 
he  opens   to  the    public  once    a   week   gratuitously. 
A  few  years  since  he  made,  in  the  name  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Horticultural  Society,  an  exhibition  of  hun- 
dreds of   these  under   an   immense    tent   on   Boston 
Common.      The  exhibition  lasted  for  several  weeks, 
and  was  visited  by  throngs  of  gratified  spectators,  and 
the  income  from  it  was  generously  given  to  constitute 
a   fund   for  the  Society,   encouraging  the  growth  of 
these  plants.     The  avenues  to  this  estate  are  planted 
on  either   side   with   most   beautiful    pines,    spruces, 
beeches,  maples,  magnolias,  and  other  trees  intermixed 
here  and  there  with  the  rarest  and  costliest  conifers, 
rhododendrons,  azaleas,  and  other  flowering  shrubs,  all 
of  which  have  been  grown  up  within  the  last  thirty 
years.     Its  meandering  walks  also  planted  on  either 
side  with    the  rarest  and  newest   conifer   and  other 
evergreens  ;  its  various  vistas,  giving  here  and  there 
a  delightful  view  through  different  openings,  are  most 
charming.     The  magnificent  velvet  lawn  in  front  of 
his  house,  the  lovely  Lake  Waban  in  the   rear,  the 
Italian  garden,  the  parapets,  ballustrades,  statues  and 
vases,  with  the  clipped  trees  of  various  forms,  leads 
one  to  suppose,  as  Mr.  Sargent  says,  "  that  we  are  on 
the    Lake  of  Como."     Here  are  fruit  and  vegetable 
gardens  enclosed  with  ornamental  hedges ;  a  conserva- 


BOSTON    AND    VICINITY.  53 

tory  attached  to  the  house,  six  plant  houses,  and  six 
fruit  houses,  and  numerous  and  varied  illustrations  of 
ornamental  beds  of  flowers.  The  whole,  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  has  been  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  F.  L. 
Harris,  his  gardener,  and  constitutes  a  place  unsur- 
passed in  this  country  for  the  acquisition  of  everything 
new  or  old  in  horticulture  that  pleases  the  eye,  charms 
the  senses,  or  gratifies  the  taste,  affording  also,  with 
the  contributions  and  benefactions  of  Mr.  Hunnewell 
to  the  Horticultural  Society,  a  noble  illustration  of  his 
love  of  the  objects  which  he  has  sought  to  promote. 

Here,  in  Wellesley,  is  the  Wellesley  Female  Col- 
lege, founded  mainly  by  the  munificence  of  Henry  F. 
Durant,  where  is  taught,  as  a  branch  of  education,  the 
science  of  botany  and  the  raising  of  plants  from  seeds, 
and  whose  splendid  avenues  and  ornamental  grounds 
and  collection  of  plants  are  happy  illustrations  of  mod- 
ern progress  in  horticulture. 

Nor  must  we  omit  some  record  of  the  famous  Ridge 
Hill  Farm  of  William  E.  Baker,  containing  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  acres,  with  its  ten  miles  of  avenues,  its 
artificial  lake,  one  and  a  half  miles  in  circumference, 
its  grotto  under  ground,  one-fourth  of  a  mile  in  length, 
several  greenhouses,  numerous  illustrations  of  the 
artistic  bedding  of  plants  under  the  care  of  his  gar- 
dener, Mr.  Greaves,  and  to  which  we  may  add  the 
grand  hotel  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  rooms. 

And  just  across  the  river,  opposite  Mr.  Hunnewell's, 
is  the  fine  country  seat  of  Benjamin  Pierce  Cheney, 
whose  love  of  horticulture  and  the  fine  arts  induced 
him  to  place  the  grand  statue  of  Ceres,  which  crowns 
the  temple  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society. 
Mr.  Hunnewell  and  Mr.  Charles  0.  Whitmore,  at  the 
same  time,  also  presenting  the  statues  of  Flora  and 
Pomona,  which  adorn  the  corners  of  this  building. 


54  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

Watertown  and  Waltham  have  been  celebrated  for 
the  residences  of  wealthy  merchants  and  citizens,  as 
far  back  as  the  last  century.  Belmont,  at  Water- 
town,  formerly  the  residence  of  John  Perkins  Gushing, 
now  the  home  of  Samuel  R.  Payson,  has  been,  and  is 
still,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  places  in  New  England 
if  not  in  the  United  States,  for  its  horticultural  taste 
and  improvement,  having  been  kept  up  for  more  than 
half  a  century  in  the  most  improved  manner.  Here, 
for  the  last  fifteen  years,  Mr.  Payson  has  indulged  his 
natural  taste  in  the  pleasures  of  rural  life,  by  the 
acquisition  and  cultivation  of  the  most  beautiful  fruits 
and  flowers  of  the  age.  This  estate,  some  sixty  years 
ago,  was  the  residence  of  Eben  Preble,  an  old  merchant 
of  Boston,  and  brother  of  Commodore  Preble.  He  built 
the  brick  walls  still  enclosing  the  grounds  in  which  the 
present  conservatories  and  other  glass  structures  are 
located.  Mr.  Preble,  in  1805,  imported  into  Boston 
one  hundred  and  fifty  varieties  of  fruit  trees,  and  so 
great  has  been  the  improvement  in  our  fruits  that 
only  two  of  the  varieties  are  now  considered  valuable.. 
This  estate  passed  to  Nathaniel  Amory,  who  married 
the  daughter  of  Mr.  Preble ;  thence  to  R.  D.  Shephard 
about  1830,  in  a  few  years  to  Mr.  Gushing,  and,  after 
his  death,  about  1860,  to  Mr.  Payson. 

Mr.  Gushing  was  a  great  lover  of  the  works  of  nature, 
and,  with  lavish  expenditures  of  wealth,  he  improved 
this  estate  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  by  the  lay- 
ing out  of  the  grounds  and  by  the  erection  of  numerous 
plant  and  fruit  houses.  He  contributed  to  the  exhibi- 
tions of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  and  he 
opened  his  grounds  once  a  week  to  the  public  in 
the  summer  season,  making  his  place  the  most  famous 
in  his  day  for  horticultural  progress  in  New  England. 

The  present  estate  of  Mr.  Payson   embraces  about 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  55 

two  hundred  acres,  which,  varied  with  its  fine  avenues 
bordered  with  old  oak,  walnut,  and  tulip  trees  (one 
of  the  last  is  eighty  feet  in  height),  and  ornamental 
trees,  rhododendrons,  azaleas,  and  other  shrubs,  make 
it  one  of  great  interest.  Here  is  a  large  conservatory, 
sixty  feet  wide,  with  fourteen  other  houses,  devoted  to 
the  cultivation  of  certain  classes  of  plants,  fruits,  and 
vegetables.  Among  these  houses  may  be  named  a 
large  greenhouse,  two  pelargonium,  two  orchid,  one 
palm,  one  azalea,  with  several  other  houses  devoted 
to  grapes,  peaches,  nectarines,  figs,  and  vegetables. 

The  lawn  on  the  south  of  the  house  is  magnificent, 
containing  about  twenty  acres,  on  and  around  which 
are  some  of  the  finest  purple  beeches  in  the  land.  On 
these  premises  are  several  gnarled  old  oaks,  and  a 
deciduous  cypress  of  great  age,  and  also  a  park  well 
stocked  with  deer. 

Opposite  Mr.  Pay  son's  is  the  handsome  old  place  of 
William  Pratt,  which  has  for  a  long  course  of  years 
been  kept  in  a  fine  condition  by  his  heirs,  under  the 
supervision  of  his  son,  George  W.  Pratt,  one  of  the 
early  vice-presidents  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  and  since  his  death  by  Miss  Mary  Pratt,  who 
still,  at  an  advanced  age,  preserves  its  former  reputation 
with  good  taste  and  enterprise.  The  conservatory  of 
choice  plants,  the  graperies,  peach  house,  the  orchard 
and  garden,  are  perpetuated  from  year  to  year  in  excel- 
lent order. 

Near  by  is  the  elegant  villa  and  estate  of  the 
late  Alvin  Adams,  renowned  for  his  enterprise  and  suc- 
cess as  the  founder  of  the  great  Adams  Express  Com- 
pany. His  extensive  lawns  and  ornamental  grounds, 
together  with  his  valuable  picture  gallery,  have  made 
this  place  one  of  the  most  attractive  in  the  vicinity  of 


56  THE    HORTICULTUKE    OF 

Boston,  where  the  generous  hospitality  of  its  proprietor 
was  abundantly  dispensed,  as  it  is  now  by  his  heirs. 

The  orchards  and  gardens  on  this  side  of  our  city 
were  noted  a  long  time  ago  for  their  extent,  and  the 
excellence  of  their  fruit.  Here  was  the  home  of  Josiah 
Stickney,  ex-president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticul- 
tural Society,  where  his  heirs  still  reside.  Although  a 
merchant  in  active  business,  he  found  time  to  plant  an 
extensive  pear  orchard  and  a  garden,  from  which,  under 
his  personal  care,  he  brought  forth  some  of  the  finest 
fruits  that  have  been  on  exhibition.  Before  his  removal 
from  Boston,  his  love  of  flowers  led  him  to  establish  a 
small  garden  on  Tremont  street,  north  of  the  Masonic 
Temple,  where,  forty  years  ago,  he  cultivated  the  dahlia 
extensively,  frequently  carrying  off  prizes  for  the  excel- 
lence of  his  specimens.  Desirous  of  promoting  the  cause 
of  horticulture,  he  made  a  bequest  of  his  estate  at  Water- 
town  to  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  for  an 
experimental  garden,  but  afterwards  revoked  this  gift 
and  gave  the  sum  of  twelve  thousand  dollars  to  the  soci- 
ety, the  income  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  for  thirty 
years  for  the  purchase  of  books  for  its  library,  then  to 
be  transferred  to  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at 
Cambridge. 

Col.  Leonard  Stone  was  a  prominent  Cultivator  in 
his  day,  and  largely  interested  in  the  promotion  of 
both  agriculture  and  horticulture.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Club,  and  had  frequent 
intercourse  with  Mr.  Cushing,  both  as  a  friend  and  an 
adviser. 

In  Waltham,  was  the  splendid  estate  of  Gov. 
Christopher  Gore,  which  was  considered  in  former  times 
as  among  the  most  elegant  in  our  vicinity.  The  Gov- 
ernor, while  residing  in  England  as  commissioner  for  the 
adjustment  of  claims  under  the  Jay  treaty,  evidently 


BOSTON    AND   VICINITY.  57 

imbibed  a  taste  for  the  life  of  a  country  gentleman,  and 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  then  accepted  style  of  build- 
ing and  landscape  gardening ;  his  house  and  grounds 
were  arranged  strictly  on  an  English  model.  The 
estate  comprised  several  hundred  acres,  in  the  middle 
of  which  was  what  was  called  the  "  Home  Field,"  where 
stood  the  mansion,  the  plan  of  which  was  considered 
most  admirable  and  aristocratic,  and  in  the  most  ap- 
proved style.  The  drawing  room  was  furnished  in  the 
gay  and  graceful  fashion  of  Louis  XVI. ;  the  other  rooms 
with  substantial  rich  mahogany,  much  of  it  of  the  old 
ante-revolutionary  type,  the  whole  being  complete  and 
elegant.  A  straight  avenue,  shaded  by  double  rows  of 
trees,  conducted  the  visitor  to  this  stately  abode ; 
shady  walks  radiated  from  the  house  to  the  east  and  west, 
secluding  it  upon  all  sides  except  one  opening  that 
permitted  a  view  of  the  river  a  half  mile  across  the 
lawn  and  the  fields  beyond  it.  The  trees  which  bor- 
dered the  avenues  and  walks  and  ornamented  the 
grounds  were  tastefully  grouped,  occasionally  convert- 
ing the  walks  into  Gothic  aisles,  one  of  which  formed  a 
vista  from  the  east  window  of  the  library.  The  tradi- 
tion is  that  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Gore  planted  many 
of  these  trees  with  their  own  hands.  The  Governor 
was  fond  of  agricultural  pursuits  and  was  an  ardent 
amateur  farmer,  having  in  addition  to  his  fruit,  flower 
and  vegetable  garden,  extensive  fields  under  cultiva- 
tion, and  a  large  group  of  barns  and  farm  buildings. 
From  this  elegant  mansion  might  be  seen  the  Governor 
taking  an  airing  in  his  orange-colored  coach,  with 
coachman,  footman,  and  outriders  all  in  livery,  and  with 
a  stateliness  quite  in  keeping  with  his  fine  place.1 
This  place,  on  the  death  of  Gov.  Gore,  passed  into 

1  Letter  of  Col.  Henry  Lee. 


58  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

the  hands  of  William  Payne,  then  to  Gen.  Theodore  Ly- 
man, and  on  the  latter's  removal  to  Brookline,  to  Copley 
Greene.  Now  it  is  a  place  distinguished  for  numerous 
glass  structures,  for  the  growth  of  fruits,  flowers,  and 
vegetables,  and  for  the  excellent  condition  in  which  its 
grounds  and  their  appurtenances  are  kept  by  its  present 
owner,  Mr.  T.  W.  Walker.  Waltham  was  much  devel- 
oped by  the  enterprise  of  Messrs.  Lowell  and  Patrick 
Jackson ;  there,  also,  Dr.  James  Jackson  had  a  lovely 
place,  and  Judge  Jackson  for  a  few  years  held  the  Gore 
place  by  lease. 

Another  place  is  especially  worthy  of  notice  in  Wal- 
tham. "Lyman  Place,"  the  home  of  Theodore  Lyman, 
one  of  Boston's  renowned  merchants,  where  he  and  his 
eldest  son,  George  W.  Lyman,  lived  from  1795  until 
their  deaths, — the  latter  having  died  Sep.  24,  1880> 
aged  93  years,  10  months.  This  estate  was  bought  in 
1793,  and  the  mansion  house  erected  in  1795.  The 
first  greenhouse  was  built  about  1800,  and  divided  into 
two  parts,  in  which  were  raised  pineapples,  bananas, 
and  other  tropical  fruits,  and  among  the  ornamental 
plants  the  yellow  Mimosa  (Acacia)  which  was  then 
considered  very  elegant.  Mr.  Lyman  brought  over  a 
celebrated  English  gardener  by  the  name  of  Bell.  He 
commenced  laying  out  and  grading  the  grounds,  which 
took  several  seasons  to  finish,  but  when  completed  they 
were  the  finest  illustration  in  the  country  of  modern 
landscape  gardening  in  their  tinie;  "bearing  witness," 
says  Mr.  Henry  W.  Sargent,  "to  a  refined  and  elegant 
taste  in  rural  improvement.  Its  fine  level  park  a  mile 
in  length,  was  enriched  with  groups  of  English  limes, 
elms  and  oaks,  and  masses  of  native  wood,  watered  by 
a  fine  stream,  and  stocked  with  deer,  \vere  the  leading 
features  of  the  place  at  that  time.  The  oldest  of  these 
trees  were  set  out  early  in  this  century,  and  are  still  in 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  59 

a  healthful  condition."  "The  peculiar  thing,"  says 
Col.  Theodore  Lyman,  his  grandson,  "is  that  my 
grandfather,  son  of  a  poor  country  clergyman  in  Old 
York,  and  compelled  to  work  hard  from  boyhood, 
should  have  had  the  tastes  of  a  refined  man  of  leisure 
in  a  matter  of  landscape  gardening.  Considering  the 
immense  difficulty  of  doing  such  a  thing  in  those  days, 
there  is  nobody  near  Boston  now  who  is  doing  as  much 
as  he  did."1 

Charlestown,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  was 
distinguished  for  its  good  gardens  and  fine  fruits. 
Here  was  a  part  of  the  estate  of  Nathan  Tufts,  who  had 
a  fine  fruit  garden,  now  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lam- 
bert, Rector  of  St.  John's  Church.  Another  fine  resi- 
dence was  that  of  Eben  Breed,  now  the  site  of  Mount 
Vernon  street,  with  garden,  greenhouse  and  a  small 
orchard.  Among  the  finest  places  on  the  peninsula 
about  the  year  1800,  was  that  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Dexter, 
which  afterwards  passed  to  Matthew  Bridge,  and  H. 
Davidson,  and  is  now  owned  by  Rhodes  Lockwood,  who 
occupies  a  part  of  it.  It  had  a  fine  garden  of  fruit  and 
ornamental  trees,  grape  vines,  and  a  greenhouse.  On 
this  estate  are  now  the  handsome  grounds  of  the  Hon. 
T.  T.  Sawyer  and  the  Hon.  Edward  Lawrence.  The 
father  of  the  Hon.  George  Washington  Warren  had  a 
large  garden  of  fruit  trees  and  plants.  John  Hurd, 
and  William  Hurd  had  good  gardens.  Mr.  James 
Hunnewell  had  a  fine  estate,  now  occupied  by  his  son, 
our  esteemed  citizen,  James  F.  Hunnewell.  This  estate 
still  retains  its  former  size,  with  many  of  the  original 
trees  and  plants.  Mr.  James  Hunnewell  was  an  enter- 
prising and  intelligent  merchant;  and  visited  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  three  times  during  his  life,  spending  several 

1  Letters  of  George  W.  Lyman  .and  Col.  Theodore  Lyman. 


60  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

years  there,  and  established  in  1826  the  mercantile 
house  which  still  exists,  and  though  passing  through 
several  parties  since,  it  now  has  a  good  standing,  and 
is,  we  believe,  one  of,  if  not  the  oldest  American  houses 
existing  there.1 

Among  other  gardens  was  that  of  Hon.  Charles 
Thompson,  whose  father  was  an  experienced  cultivator 
of  fruits.  It  is  still  among  the  largest  and  best  in  the 
town.  The  Navy  Yard  has  a  large  garden  for  fruits 
and  flowers.  The  grounds  of  the  Ursuline  Convent  on 
Mount  Benedict  were  once  extensive  in  their  orchards  and 
shade  trees.  In  Charlestown,  also,  was  the  "  Vineyard" 
under  the  care  of  David  Haggerston,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  and  after- 
wards the  gardener  of  John  P.  Gushing,  at  Water  town. 
This  garden  was  an  experimental  one,  and  devoted  almost 
exclusively  to  the  testing  of  foreign  varieties  of  the  grape 
in  open  ground,  and  other  small  fruits,  and  here  was  first 
introduced  the  famous  Keen's  Seedling  strawberry  from 
Europe.  Here  was  a  greenhouse  containing  a  fine  collec- 
tion of  the  Camellia,  where  the  writer  saw  this  elegant 
plant  in  bloom  for  the  first  time  in  his  life.  Another 
garden  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and  flowers 
was  that  of  Samuel  E.  Johnson,  who,  forty  years  ago, 
was  one  of  the  most  successful  cultivators  and  exhibitors 
of  fruits  and  flowers. 

There  have  been  many  other  fine  gardens  in  Charles- 
town,  but  most  of  those  of  which  we  have  spoken  have 
been  built  upon.  Outside  of  the  peninsula  was  the 
estate  of  Joseph  Barrell,  on  the  present  site  of  the 
McLean  Asylum,  which  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
in  our  region.2  It  had  large  gardens  and  greenhouses, 
which  cost  about  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  in  those 

1  Mr.  J.  F.  Hunnewell's  letter. 

2  Drake's  Middlesex,  p.  177. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  61 

days  was  called  a  "  show  place."  It  was  called  Pleasant 
Hill,  probably  the  same  as  Poplar  Grove,  and  was  called 
Cobble  Hill  in  the  Revolution.  Mr.  Barrell  had  a  fine 
garden  in  Summer  street,  in  Boston.  He  also  drained 
and  planted  a  garden  at  the  lower  part^of  Franklin  street, 
and  owned  the  famous  "Mystic  farms."  He  was  a  very 
enterprising  man,  and  one  of  the  company  which  owned 
the  ships  Columbia  and  Washington,  that  first  crossed 
the  bar  of  the  great  river  of  Oregon,  now  bearing  the 
name  of  one  of  these  vessels,  on  our  Pacific  coast.1 

Horticulture  had  a  cordial  reception  in  the  early 
days  of  Medford,  even  back  as  far  as  the  building  of 
the  house  of  Mathew  Craddock.  The  "Royall  house," 
once  occupied  by  Col.  Isaac  Royall,  though  not  so  old, 
stood  in  the  midst  of  grounds  laid  out  in  elegant  taste, 
and  embellished  with  fruit  trees  and  shrubbery, 
walks  bordered  with  box,  and  a  summer-house  sur- 
mounted by  a  cupola,  and  a  statue  of  Mercury.2  This 
estate  was  purchased  in  1810  by  Jacob  Tidd,  who 
afterwards  removed  to  West  Roxbury,  and  exhibited 
at  the  rooms  of  the  Horticultural  Society  the  Horatio 
or  Nice  grape,  weighing  over  six  pounds  to  the  bunch. 
Mr.  Royall  died  in  1739,  leaving  the  property  to  his 
son  Isaac,  and  by  the  name  of  Royall  it  is  still  known. 
There  were  many  fine  gardens  in  Medford  in  our  own 
day  ;  such  were  those  of  Timothy  Bigelow,  Peter  C. 
Brooks,  Thatcher  Magoun,  and  others  who  were 
interested  in  horticultural  pursuits,  and  had  good 
gardens  and  greenhouses. 

West  Cambridge,  Arlington,  Lexington,  Concord,  Wil- 
mington, Winchester,  Woburn,  Reading,  Revere,  and 
other  towns  in  our  vicinity,  have  been  prominent  in  pro- 
moting the  science  of  horticulture  during  the  present  ceri- 

» — _ — _ — 

1  Old  Landmarks,  p.  254. 

2 Drake's  Middlesex  County,  Vol.  2,  p.  Icr.. 


62  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

tury;  and  from  them  we  have  derived  not  only  fine 
fruits  and  flowers,  but  the  choicest  vegetables  which 
are  to  be  seen  in  any  markets  of  the  world.  From 
Wilmington  came  the  world-renowned  Baldwin  apple, 
which  constitutes  the  largest  portion  of  the  apples  ex- 
ported from  our  market,  filling  more  than  three-fourths 
of  the  six  hundred  thousand  barrels  that  are  sent 
annually  abroad.  The  history  of  this  apple  is  as  fol- 
lows :  * 

WOBIIEN,  Sept.  28,  1880. 

MR.  WOODMAN:  Dear  Sir, — Your  note  of  the  26th  inst.  was  received, 
asking  me  to  give  you  the  account  my  grandfather,  Samuel  Thompson,  Esq. , 
gave  me  of  the  Baldwin  apple.  In  reply  I  will  say  he  was  a  surveyor  of 
land,  and  while  he  was  on  duty  one  fall  day  in  a  pasture,  in  the  town  of 
Wilmington,  near  a  road  called  Butters  Row  Road,  he  came  across  a  tree  with 
fine  looking  apples  thereon.  The  tree  was  hollow  with  decay,  and  a  wood- 
pecker bird  found  a  place  for  her  nest  therein.  He  said  he  carried  home 
some  of  the  fruit  and  gave  his  brother  Abijah  some  of  it,  and  they  were  so 
highly  pleased  with  it  that  they  procured  a  lot  of  scions  from  the  tree  and  set 
them  in  the  trees  around  their  homes,  and  they  soon  began  to  yield  fruit;  and 
they  gave  some  to  Col.  Baldwin,  their  neighbor,  and  he  valued  them  so 
highly  he  went  into  them  deeply  and  spread  them  around  among  his  friends 
broadcast,  and  they  had  no  name  for  them  and  of  course  they  gave  them  his 
name.  While  they  were  in  the  Thompsons'  hands  they  were  called  Pecker 
apples,  after  the  old  bird.  The  tree  stood  in  Wilmington,  near  Butters  Row 

Road. 

LEONARD   THOMPSON, 

92  years,  4  months. 

Of  the  Baldwin  apple,  Deacon  Thomas  Griggs,  of 
Brookline,  now  in  his  ninety-fourth  year,  writes: 
"  Seventy  years  ago  I  employed  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Tufts,  to  graft.  He  came  from  Woburn  and  brought 
scions  called  the  Pecker  apple.  He  said  Mr.  Baldwin, 
when  surveying  for  the  canal,  found  a  tree  on  the  edge 
of  the  wood  which  was  almost  killed  by  woodpeckers, 


*  Letter  of  Col.  Leonard  Thompson  to  Hon.  Charles  Woodman.  [See  note 
to  Mr.  Adams's  chapter  in  Boston  Memorial,  Vol.  IV.]  Brooks's  Medford, 
p.  19,  places  the  tree  in  that  town  near  the  Woburn  line.  See  also  Ellis's 
Count  Rumford,  pp.  375-77. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  63 

but  had  on  it  a  very  few  nice  red  apples.  From  this 
tree  he  cut  scions  and  from  it  sprang  the  Baldwin 
apple." 

From  the  farm  of  the  Hon.  John  Cummings,  of 
Woburn,  were  sent  the  present  year  two  thousand 
barrels  of  apples  to  Liverpool,  most  of  which  were 
Baldwins ;  large  quantities  of  fruits  and  vegetables  for 
the  market  were  also  raised  there,  among  which  may 
be  named  seventy-five  thousand  beautiful  heads  of  the 
cauliflower,  produced  in  one  year. 

From  Concord  comes  some  of  the  finest  roses,  straw- 
berries, grapes,  and  vegetables,  which  grace  our  exhi- 
bitions ;  but,  if  it  had  produced  nothing  else  but  the 
Concord  grape,  its  name,  and  that  of  Mr.  Ephraim  W. 
Bull,  its  originator,  would  have  been  remembered  with 
gratitude.  Her  soil,  once  fertilized  by  the  blood  of  her 
sous,  yields  rich  rewards  for  protecting  and  making 
it  more  and  more  worthy  of  protection,  and  her  name 
will  ever  be  memorable  in  history  as  the  spot  where 
the  British  soldiery  were  repulsed  and  driven  back,  on 
the  nineteenth  of  April,  1775. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  and  extensive  places 
as  regards  horticultural  improvement  and  landscape 
gardening,  and  interesting  also  for  its  historic  associa- 
tions, is  that  of  the  Hon.  Francis  B.  Hayes,  at  Lex- 
ington, president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society.  It  is  only  nineteen  years  since  he  purchased 
the  estate  of  about  thirteen  acres  on  which  his  house 
now  stands.  But  the  estate  now  embraces  in  one  com- 
pact body,  near  the  centre  of  the  town,  and  yet  retired, 
between  four  and  five  hundred  acres  of  hill  and  dale, 
forest,  beautiful  landscape  pasture  and  arable  fields 
seldom  surpassed  in  New  England.  A  portion  of  this 
estate  belonged  to  the  Rev.  John  Hancock,  who  was 
the  grandfather  of  the  patriot  of  the  same  name.  An 


64  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

ancient  house  built  by  the  son  of  the  above-named  cler- 
gyman for  his  father,  and  afterwards  occupied  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Clark,  011  Hancock  street,  still  stands  nearly  oppo- 
site to  Mr.  Hayes's  place.  Here  Samuel  Adams  and 
John  Hancock  were  visiting  on  the  morning  of  the 
Battle  of  Lexington,  April  19th,  1775,  and  at  the  same 
time  Miss  Dorothy  Quincy,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Gov. 
Hancock,  was  a  guest.  Adams  and  Hancock,  hearing 
of  the  approach  of  the  British  troops,  fled  over  the  hills 
to  Burlington,  and  it  was  on  one  of  these  hills, 
as  tradition  has  it,  that  Samuel  Adams  exclaimed, — 
"What  a  glorious  morning  is  this!"  The  highest 
eminence  on  Mr.  Hayes's  estate  has  been  known 
for  a  century  as  Granny  Hill,  being  one  of  the 
loftiest,  if  not  the  highest,  in  Middlesex  county, 
from  which  the  Mount  Wachuset  in  Princeton,  and 
Mount  Monadnock  in  New  Hampshire,  are  clearly 
visible.  The  scenery  is  not  only  wild  and  beautiful 
but  grand,  being  diversified  by  ravines,  precipices,  and 
fertile  valleys  below.  On  the  top  of  this  hill  is  a  pond 
of  about  two  acres,  made  by  Mr.  Hayes,  and  supplied 
by  living  streams,  from  which  water  is  carried  all  over 
the  estate.  The  aim  of  Mr.  Hayes  has  been  to  follow 
nature,  making  no  attempt  to  produce  striking  effects 
by  changing  the  natural  formation  of  the  ground,  but 
only  to  develop  its  natural  beauties.  The  extensive 
avenues  through  the  forests  are  made  with  special 
reference  to  preserving  the  native  woods  and  fields, 
and  planting  the  borders  with  shrubs  suited  to  the 
various  locations,  so  as  to  secure  harmony,  both  in  the 
cultivated  and  the  wilder  growth. 

Within  a  few  years  Mr.  Hayes  has  made  most  rapid 
progress  in  horticultural  improvement  collecting  exten- 
sive importations  from  Europe,  and  purchasing  at  home 
a  vast  quantity  of  ornamental  trees  and  plants.  His 


I 
BOSTON    AND   VICINITY.  65 

collection  of  rhododendrons  and  azaleas  is  quite  large, 
and  in  the  season  of  bloom  they  are  displayed  under  a 
tent  fifty  feet  square,  constructed  for  this  purpose. 
Here  is  a  magnificent  new  conservatory  with  iron  curve- 
linear  roof,  sixty-five  feet  long,  forty-two  feet  broad, 
and  twenty-seven  feet  high  in  the  centre.  This  contains 
many  of  the  largest  and  most  elegant  plants  in  our 
vicinity,  especially  of  Camellias,  Mr.  Hayes  having 
secured  half  of  the  collection  of  the  writer,  some  of  which 
are  more  than  fifty  years  old.  Mr.  Hayes  has  a  grapery, 
a  rosary,  and  large  winter  pits  for  the  preservation  of 
half  hardy  plants.  His  exhibitions  at  the  Horticultural 
rooms  of  plants  and  cut  flowers  have  carried  oft0  a 
large  number  of  first  class  prizes  as  testimonials  of  his 
zeal  and  enterprise.  Nor  should  we  omit  to  state  that 
this  estate  has  been  brought  to  its  present  extent  by 
the  purchase  of  lots  of  which  Mr.  Hayes  has  forty-nine 
deeds.  On  it  he  keeps  eighty  head  of  cattle  and  ten 
horses,  and  cuts  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  a  hundred 
and  fifty  tons  of  hay  annually,  besides  raising  large 
crops  of  other  agricultural  products. 

Here,  in  Lexington,  were  the  farms  and  orchards  of 
Major  Elias  Phinney  and  Gen.  Samuel  Chandler,  both 
distinguished  in  the  early  part  of  this  century  for  the 
culture  of  fine  fruits,  especially  of  the  apple. 

Salem  should  be  especially  remembered"  in  our  record 
for  her  interest  in  horticulture.  Here  Gov.  John 
Endicott  planted  a  nursery,  the  first  of  which  we 
have  any  account  in  New  England,  a  pear  tree  of 
which  still  lives  and  bears  fruit.  His  farm  was  known 
as  Orchard  as  early  as  1643,  and  this  tree  stood  near 
his  mansion.  The  Governor  seems  to  have  been 
extensively  engaged  in  the  propagation  of  fruit  trees, 
for  in  1644  he  wrote  to  Gov.  Winthrop,  to  whom 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  sending  trees:  "I  hurnblie  and 


66  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

heartilie  thanck  you  for  your  last  lettre  of  newes 
&c,  for  the  trees  you  sent  mee."  And  in  1645  he  wrote 
to  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  at  "Tenne  Hills,"  "what  trees 
you  want  at  any  tyrne  send  to  mee  for  them,  I  will 
supply  you  as  longe  as  I  have  a  tree."  Horticulture 
seems  to  have  been  much  esteemed  by  the  wealthy 
people  of  Salem,  and  before  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century  her  merchant  vessels  brought  home 
trees,  plants,  and  seeds  from  foreign  lands.  Mr.  Ezekiel 
Hersey  Derby  had,  early  in  the  present  century,  an 
extensive  garden,  greenhouses,  orchards,  and  belts  of 
'  forest  trees  —  a  most  elegant  and  delightful  home. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts 
Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture.1 

The  first  record  we  have  of  the  introduction  of  the 
tomato  is,  that  it  was  brought  here  in  1802  by  Michele 
Felice  Corne,  an  Italian  painter.2 

The  most  important  public  benefit  conferred  on 
the  Pomology  of  New  England,  if  not  of  our  whole 
country,  was  the  establishment  of  the  Pomological  Gar- 
den in  Salem,  by  Robert  Manning,  in  1823.  This  was 
for  testing  fruits,  both  native  and  foreign,  and  ascer- 
taining what  were  adapted  to  our  own  climate.  Mr. 
Manning  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  cebbrated 
Dr.  Van  Mons,  of  Belgium,  Robert  ThompsDn,  the  head 
of  the  fruit  department  in  the  garden  of  the  Horti- 
cultural Society  of  London,  and  others  in  Europe  and 
our  own  country.  From  these  various  sources  he  re- 
ceived trees  and  scions  to  carry  on  his  work.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  prosecuting  his  labors  with  great  enterprise 
and  zeal  till  the  time  of  his  death  in  1842,  when  the 


1  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  Vol.  II,  pp.  148  and  150. 

2  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  Vol.  II,  p.  631. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  67 

collection  of  fruits,  of  which  he  had  personal  observa- 
tion, amounted  to  more  than  eighteen  hundred  varie- 
ties. He  also  established  a  nursery,  and  dispensed 
trees  and  scions  of  such  as  he  could  recommend  to  our 
own  and  other  lands.  He  was  a  most  careful  observer, 
and  to  him  more  than  to  all  others  in  our  country  in 
his  day,  are  we  indebted  for  the  introduction  of  new 
and  choice  fruits,  for  the  identification  of  the  different 
varieties,  the  testing  of  their  qualities,  and  for  their 
correct  nomenclature. 

Nor  would  we  omit  to  record  the  valuable  services 
of  the  younger  Robert  Manning,  who  succeeded  his 
father  in  the  good  work  ;  who  has  continued  to  identify, 
test,  and  disseminate  the  fruits  which  have,  from  time 
to  time  come  to  notice,  and  who  still  occupies  the  old 
family  estate.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
American  Pomological  Society  thirty-two  years  ago, 
and  is  its  present  secretary.  He  is  also  secretary 
of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  and  the 
editor  of  its  History  for  the  first  half  century  of  its 
existence. 

Here,  in  Salem,  were  the  garden  and  orchard  of 
John  Fisk  Allen,  a  most  enterprising  and  successful 
cultivator  of  fruits  and  flowers.  In  1854  he  raised 
from  seed  the  first  hybridized  American  grape,  Allen's 
Hybrid,  which  was  produced  from  crossing  the  Isabella 
with  the  foreign  species.  Here,  also,  was  grown  and 
flowered  that  most  magnificent  water  lily,  the  Victoria 
reyia,  some  of  whose  leaves  were  four  feot  in  diameter, 
and  would  sustain  a  boy  of  six  years  of  age.  Its  gorgeous 
flowers  were  of  corresponding  proportions,  colored 
illustrations  of  whicn  were  published  in  a  large, 
elegant  folio  volume,  and  dedicated  to  some  of  his 
friends. 

The  orchards  and  garden  of  Joseph  Sebastian  Cabot, 


68  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

sixth  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  So- 
ciety, were  distinguished  for  the  enterprise  and  intelli- 
gence of  its  proprietor  in  horticulture.  Mr.  Cabot  was 
much  interested  in  the  cultivation  of  the  tulip  of 
which  he  had  more  than  six  hundred  varieties,  the 
pseony,  and  flowering  plants.  His  collection  of  pears 
was  very  extensive,  and  he  raised  several  seedlings, 
one  of  which  bears  his  name.  He  was  a  critical 
observer  of  the  merits  of  fruits,  and  made  a  report  in 
1858  to  the  American  Pomological  Society,  recommend- 
ing the  expulsion  of  more  than  six  hundred  varieties  of 
fruits  which  were  unworthy  of  general  cultivation, 
and  these  fruits  were  rejected  from  its  catalogue. 

Here  was  the  home  of  Col.  Timothy  Pickering,  first 
president  of  the  Essex  Agricultural  Society,  and  first  sec- 
retary of  the  first  agricultural  society  on  this  continent, 
the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture. 
Here  is  the  extensive  and  well-managed  farm  of 
George  B.  Loring,  president  of  the  New  England  Agri- 
cultural Society  during  its  whole  history,  who  has  well 
earned  the  title  of  "  agricultural  orator,"  and  is 
now  rewarded  for  his  labors  by  the  office  of  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at  Washing- 
ton. The  orchard  on  this  farm  has  been  famous  in 
past  time,  most  of  the  trees  having  been  imported  by 
Col.  Pickman,  its  owner,  early  in  this  century,  and 
among  which  were  the  Pickman  pippin,  known  in  its 
early  days  as  the  Garden  apple. 

Other  gardens  and  orchards  of  Salem  are  worthy  of 
record,  did  our  space  permit.  Here  were  the  orchards 
and  gardens  of  the  Dodges,  Silsbees,  of  Charles  Hoffman, 
Francis  Peabody,  and  other  worthy  citizens.  Among 
these  may  be  named  that  of  Mr.  John  M.  Ives,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  who  still  lives ; 
the  Putnams,  who  have  been  prominent  as  horticultu- 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  69 

rists  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  that  of  John  C.  Lee, 
a  relative  and  companion  of  our  John  L.  Gardner,  with 
whom  in  boyhood  he  early  developed  a  love  for  botanical 
and  horticultural  studies,  which  made  him  one  of  the 
most  enterprising  and  successful  cultivators  of  fruits  and 
flowers ;  from  his  gardener  came  many  of  the  finest 
illustrations  of  horticultural  science.  One  other  garden, 
that  of  Edward  S.  Rogers,  should  be  noticed  for  his  suc- 
cess in  the  hybridization  of  the  grape,  being  the  second 
effort  within  our  knoweledge  of  attempts  to  cross  the 
native  with  the  foreign  species.  For  the  mother 
he  took  a  wild  grape  of  the  woods,  called  the  Mam- 
moth, and  crossed  it  with  the  Black  Hamburg  and 
White  Chasselas.  The  crosses  by  the  Black  Hamburg 
produced  the  Barry,  Essex,  Herbert,  Merrimac,  Wilder, 
and  other  varieties,  whose  bunches  and  berries  resem- 
ble the  male  parent.  Those  crossed  by  the  White 
Chasselas  produced  the  Lindley,  the  Massasoit,  and 
other  reddish  grapes.  Thus  the  influence  of  the  for- 
eign species  was  clearly  demonstrated,  and  the  fallacy 
which  had  been  entertained  that  species  would  not 
cross  was  refuted.  To  Mr.  Rogers  are  the  public 
indebted  more  than  to  any  other  man,  primarily,  for 
the  extensive  hybridization  of  the  grape,  which  now, 
after  twenty-five  years,  is  producing  the  numerous 
varieties  of  improved  grapes  which  are  yearly  brought 
to  notice. 

Lynn  and  Beverly  had  fine  orchards  and  gardens 
forty  or  fifty  years  since,  many  of  which  have  been 
perpetuated  to  this  day.  Among  them  were  those  of 
Andrews  and  Henry  A.  Breed,  who  were  among  the 
founders  of  the  Horticultural  Society  ;  Gen.  Josiah  New- 
hall,  Richard  S.  Fay,  Otis  Johnson,  of  Lynn,  and  Josiah 
Lovett,  of  Beverly,  who  were  very  successful  cultivators. 

The  grounds  of  Mr.  Johnson  were  remarkable  for 


70  THE    HORTICULTUEE    OF 

the  neatness  with  which  they  were  kept,  and  we  well 
remember  the  remark  the  writer  made  when  visiting 
his  place,  "There  is  a  weed,"  which  seemed  to  trouble 
him.  Mr.  Johnson  was  a  zealous  and'  enterprising 
horticulturist,  frequently  bearing  off  the  highest  prizes 
ior  his  fruits.  He  was  very  successful  in  the  culture 
of  small  fruits,  especially  the  strawberry.  On  a  bed  of 
less  than  seven  thousand  feet  of  land  he  produced,  of 
Hovey's  Seedling,  seven  hundred  quarts  of  fruit,  being 
equal  to  four  thousand  five  hundred  quarts  to  the  acre.1 
The  foreign  grapes  were  here  grown  with  great  success, 
a  regular  diary  of  his  process  being  published. 

Among  the  most  enterprising  horticulturists  of 
Lynn,  and  those  interested  in  the  growth  of  fruits, 
were  the  Breeds.  In  speaking  of  its  progress,  Mr. 
Henry  A.  Breed,  says,  "  fifty-six  years  ago,  there  were 
but  four  varieties  of  pears,  and  very  few  trees  in  Lynn, 
and  but  few  flowers,  now  there  are  upwards  of  forty- 
five  thousand  pear  trees,  bearing  almost  every  variety 
of  fruit,  and  a  flower  garden  may  be  seen  in  almost 
every  man's  yard.  I  built  the  first  greenhouse,  and 
now  there  are  upwards  of  fifty,  and  many  of  them  are 
quite  large.  I  helped  to  set  out  the  first  shade  trees 
in  streets ;  now  almost  every  street  has  them  on  each 
side.  -Since  that  time,  I  have  graded  thirty-four  streets 
at  my  own  expense."  Mr.  Breed  still  lives,  at  about 
eighty-three  years  of  age. 

Coming  nearer  on  the  North  Shore,  among  the 
most  remarkable  instances  of  success  were  the  efforts 
of  the  late  Frederic  Tudor,2  at  Nahant.  Mr.  Tudor 


l  "  Hovey's  Magazine,"  XV.,  p.  411. 

2 HON.  M.  P.  WILDER:     .  NAHANT,  Oct.  2d,  1863. 

DEAR  SIR,  — It  is  one  of  the  misfortunes  of  a  man  any  way  distinguished 
for  anything  which  claims  the  admiration  of  his  fellow-men,  to  be  continually 
teased  and  harrassed  by  the  great  mass  of  ignorant  and  stupid  people,  on  the 
subject  for  which  he  is  noted. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  71 

was  called  the  "Ice  King,"  being  the  first  to  establish 
that  trade  on  an  extensive  scale  in  our  commerce.  Here 
on  this  rough  and  rock-bound  coast,  over  whose  bold 
promontory  the  dashing  waves  and  surging  spray  con- 
tinue still  to  beat,  he  commenced  a  large  garden  on  a 
spot  without  a  tree  or  shrub  upon  it ;  and  by  enclosing 
it  with  high,  double-pale  fences  to  break  the  wind,  he 
succeeded  in  producing  many  fine  fruits.  In  the  year 
1849  he  exhibited  a  basket  of  Louise  Bonne  of  Jersey 
pears,  one  of  which  measured  over  ten  inches  in  cir- 
cumference, and  weighed  thirteen  and  three-fourths 
ounces.  The  trees  and  vines  of  this  garden,  which 
the  writer  visited  a  few  years  since,  were  then  in  a 
healthful  and  productive  condition.  Mr.  Tudor  at- 
tached to  the  pears  of  which  we  have  spoken  the  fol- 
lowing note :  "  The  whole  circumference  of  ten  fruits 


This  must  be  my  excuse  for  writing  this  note,  and  inviting  your  attention  to 
a  small  basket  of  fruit  produced  at  this  place. 

What  I  would  principally  call  your  attention  to  is  a  fruit,  a  seedling,  resem- 
bling the  Seckel,  but  produced  from  a  tree  growing  entirely  different  from  the 
Seckel,  and  having  thorns  not  worked.  Also  to  three  pears,  which  have  this 
year  been  produced  from  trees  varying  in  age  from  twenty  to  sixty  years.  A 
cluster  of  Brown  Beurres ;  of  these  I  have  three  trees,  which  bore  perfect 
fruit  for  the  first  time  in  thirteen  years,  although  every  year  they  have  pro- 
duced fruit ;  all  the  previous  years  the  fruit  has  been  bad.  Two  fruits  of  the 
old  St.  Germain,  so  rare  as  almost  to  be  forgotten.  Of  these  I  have  a  few 
dozen,  produced  on  an  old  free  stock  tree,  which  this  year,  for  the  first  time 
in  a  long  course  of  years,  has  produced  no  good  fruit. 

Three  fruits  of  the  old  St.  Michael,  or  White  Doyenne,  the  product  of  old 
trees  which  I  brought  here  thirteen  years  ago,  and  which  have  every  year  pro- 
duced fruit,  but  always  crooked  and  spotted.  This  year  there  is  a  near  ap- 
proach to  good  specimens.  A  few  specimens  of  my  other  fruit  to  fill  the  bas- 
ket, although  I  am  sending  coals  to  Newcastle. 

This  has  been  a  year  of  too  redundant  production,  partly  owing  to  the  ab- 
sence of  production  last  year,  and  partly  to  the  great  quantity  of  rain  we  have 
had  during  the  summer. 

It  has  been  a  year  for  producing  large-sized  fruit,  but  of  low  flavor.  I  hope 
the  Horticultural  Society  will  appoint  a  competent  person  to  write  something 
on  the  last  season,  and  the  cause  of  the  restoration  of  the  lost  fruits,  which  I 
suppose  other  gentlemen  have  experienced  besides  myself. 

I  am,  very  truly,  FREDERIC  TUDOR. 


72  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

in  this  basket  is  eight  feet,  one  and  a  half  inches; 
weight  of  the  same,  seven  pounds  four  and  three- 
fourths  ounces ;  the  tree,  a  dwarf,  bore  ninety-five 
fruits." 

At  Swampscott  are  the  beautiful  and  extensive  grounds 
of  the  Hon.  E.  R.  Mudge,1  and  many  other  estates  cele- 
brated for  their  elegance  and  ornamental  culture,  and 
we  are  glad  to  know  that  Mr.  Mudge  and  other  wealthy 
gentlemen  are  constantly  adding  to  the  improvement 
and  adornment  of  their  summer  residences  on  the  sea-side. 
Going  a  little  further  inland  to  the  west  we  find 
Dedham,  in  former  days  noted  for  many  fine  resi- 
dences, among  which  were  those  of  Fisher  Ames,  the 
distinguished  orator,  statesman,  and  moralist  of  his 
day,  and  Edward  Dowse,  one  of  the  first  merchants 
who  opened  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
China.  These  gentlemen  were  much  interested  in  hor- 
ticulture, and  planted  some  of  the  beautiful  elms  and 
other  trees  which  adorn  her  streets.  They  had  orchards, 
and  gardens,  and  ice  houses,  which  were  considered  as 
rare  luxuries  in  those  days. 

In  1793,  Mr.  Ames  writes  to  Thomas  Dwight:  "I 
have  just  begun  to  display  my  taste  as  a  gardener;"  in 
1794,  "I  have  been  to  see  Mr.  Gore's  place;  I  do  not 
expect  to  build  a  smarter;"  in  1795,  "the  time  of  my 
men  is  so  taken  up  by  the  masons,  my  garden  is  full  of 
weeds ; "  and  again,  "  I  am  trying  to  raise  new  breeds 
of  potatoes  from  seed."  1799,  to  Gov.  Gore:  ibDo  I 
bore  you  on  the  subject  of  husbandry  ?  Paine  says, 
Gen.  Heath  gets  three  thousand  dollars  a  year  by  the 
vegetables,  &c.,  from  his  farm.  I  solicit  the  honor  of 
being  appointed  to  the  post  of  privy  counsellor,  or  sec- 
retary of  your  cabbage  and  squash  department."  And 
again  to  Gore,  same  year  :  "  Cider  is  dear.  It  is  better 
to  look  for  our  drink  to  our  trees,  than  to  our  ploughs." 

1  Since  writing  the  above,  Mr.  Mudge  has  deceased. 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  73 

In  1802  he  writes:  "I  have  sought  pleasure  among 
my  trees." 

The  estate  of  Mr.  Dowse,  by  the  will  of  his  widow, 
became  the  property  of  her  nephew,  Josiah  Quincy, 
who  gave  it  to  his  youngest  son,  the  late  Edmund 
Quincy,  who  bequeathed  it  to  his  second  son,  Dr. 
Henry  P.  Quincy,  and  his  daughter  Mary,  who  now 
reside  there. 

The  example  of  Fisher  Ames  has  been  followed 
by  others  who  have  been  engaged  in  the  promotion 
of  horticulture.  Among  these  may  be  named  Edward 
M.  Richards,  Ebenezer  Wight  and  Edward  S.  Rand;  Jr., 
all  of  whom  held  the  office  of  recording  secretary  of 
the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society.  Dr.  Wight 
was  one  of  the  most  eminent  cultivators  of  the  apple ; 
proving  under  his  own  observation,  the  numerous  varie- 
ties as  they  came  to  notice,  and  distributing  scions  of 
the  same  to  all  applicants.  Edward  S.  Rand,  Senior, 
promoted  the  advancement  of  horticulture  by  the 
adornment  of  his  beautiful  estate ;  and  his  excellent 
collection  of  greenhouse  and  orchid  plants,  of  which  we 
have  spoken  before.  His  son  Edward,  whose  grounds  and 
houses  for  the  culture  of  fruits  and  flowers,  his  collec- 
tion of  orchids,  and  his  contributions  to  our  exhibitions, 
were  of  a  notable  character.  The  efforts  of  Col. 
Eliphalet  Stone,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  in 
promoting  the  culture  of  fruits,  are  still  continued, 
dispensing  now,  as  ever,  the  results  of  his  careful 
experience  for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  Dedham  was 
the  home  of  the  Norfolk  Agricultural  Society,  whose 
presidency,  for  the  first  twenty  years,  was  vested  in  the 
writer,  and  which  greatly  promoted  by  its  exhibi- 
tions the  horticulture  of  our  vicinity. 

Turning  to  the  South  Shore  for  a  hasty  glance,  we 
find  Braintree,  including  then  what  is  now  Quincy,  was, 


74  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

from  the  first  settlement  of  Boston,  turned  to  use  by 
many  of  its  citizens  for  farm  and  pasture-lands.  In 
due  time,  some  of  its  wealthier  owners,  and  more 
enterprising  occupants,  introduced  orchards  and  gar- 
dens. Among  these,  besides  the  Adamses,  Hancocks, 
and  William  Ooddington,  was  the  first  comer  of  the 
distinguished  Quincy  family,  Edmund  Quincy.  His 
estate  originally  consisted  of  a  thousand  acres.  He 
died  in  1636,  at  the  age  of  33,  just  after  he  had  built  a 
house  on  what  is  now  Mt.  Wollaston.  His  son,  of  the 
same  name,  who  died  in  1697,  inherited  the  estate,  and 
planted  an  orchard,  of  which  some  apple  trees  still 
remain.  Judge  Edmund  Quincy,  its  next  owner,  a  fine 
lime  tree  of  whose  planting  has  come  down  to  our 
time,  dying  in  London,  the  property  came  to  his  son, 
Col.  Josiah  Quincy,  who,  about  the  year  1770,  had 
upon  it  gardens  and  orchards,  with  a  rich  collection  of 
French  pears.  The  son  of  the  colonel,  the  eminent 
patriot,  known  as  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  dying  in  early 
manhood,  left  an  only  son,  the  late  honored  Josiah 
Quincy,  Mayor  of  Boston,  and  President  of  Harvard 
University,  to  whom  his  grandfather,  dying  in  1784, 
bequeathed  the  estate.  The  president,  who  lived  to  a 
venerable  age,  devoted  intervals  during  his  public  life, 
and  his  retirement  from  it,  to  the  care,  adornment  and 
enrichment  of  the  350  acres  which  came  to  his  posses- 
sion. He  was  fond  of  natural  beauty,  and  of  agricul- 
tural improvements,  and  laid  out  his  grounds  with 
much  taste.  He  planted  in  1790  an  avenue  a  third  of 
a  mile  in  length,  of  six  rows  of  elms,  and  two  of  ash 
trees,  still  thriving,  besides  more  than  a  mile  and  a 
half  of  hedge.1  When  President  Quincy  was  in  con- 
gress, in  1809,  he  obtained  from  an  English  gardener, 

1  Miss  Eliza  S.  Quincy's  letter. 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  75 

Mayn,  established  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  plants  of  the 
American  hedge-thorn  (Buckthorn),  which  he  set  double 
in  his  avenue  for  a  third  of  a  mile.  After  flourishing 
many  years  this  hedge  was  eradicated  in  1850.  Mr. 
Quincy  also  obtained  from  Mayn  the  Burgundy,  York 
and  Lancaster  roses,  the  Bignonia  Radicans,  then  rare 
in  this  vicinity,  and  other  plants.  He  found  his  attempts 
to  introduce  here  the  principles  of  English  agriculture 
very  troublesome  and  costly.  He  continued  his  in- 
terest in  fruit,  and  when  past  his  fourscore  years, 
called  on  the  writer  to  purchase  trees  of  the  Winter 
Nelis  pear.  On  being  told  that  it  was  a  slender  and 
slow  grower,  he  replied,  "  That  is  of  little  consequence 
to  such  young  fellows  as  myself."  He  had  a  fine  herd 
on  his  farm,  and  wrote  one  of  the  best  treatises  on  the 
"Soiling  of  Cattle,"  which  was  published  at  the  request 
of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture. 
In  1849  and  1852,  it  was  revised  by  Mr.  Quincy,  and 
was  republished  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Norfolk 
Agricultural  Society,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and 
reprinted  again  in  1860,  in  Flint's  State  Agricultural 
Report.  Mr.  Quincy  was  fond  of  every  improvement, 
and  had  one  of  the  first  mowing  machines  introduced 
into  New  England.  He  passed  the  last  summer  of 
his  life  on  his  farm,  where  he  died,  July  1,  1864,  in 
his  93d  year,  in  the  house  and  apartment  of  his  grand- 
father, Col.  Josiah  Quincy,  leaving  to  his  daughter, 
Miss  Eliza  S.  Quincy,  and  two  of  her  sisters,  life  estates 
in  his  house  and  grounds  around  it,  where  they  now 
reside.  To  his  eldest  son,  the  present  Hon.  Josiah 
Quincy,  ex-president  of  the  Massachusetts  senate,  and 
ex-mayor  of  Boston,  he  bequeathed  his  farm  with  a 
house  erected  in  1850,  who  also  carried  it  on  for  a  few 
years,  and  where,  in  1881,  he  resides  in  a  green  old 
age,  with  his  children  and  grandchildren  around  him. 


76  THE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

In  Braintree,  was  the  residence  of  Benjamin  V. 
French,  a  vice-president  of  the  Massachusetts  Horti- 
cultural Society,  eminent  for  his  devotion  to  horticul- 
ture and  agricultural  pursuits.  His  collection  of  fruits 
embraced  most  of  the  varieties  which  gave  promise  of 
being  good,  especially  of  the  apple,  of  which  he  had  one 
of  the  most  extensive  collections  in  New  England,  and 
for  the  encouragement  and  culture  of  this  fruit  he  left  a 
bequest  which  amounted,  in  time,  to  the  sum  of  about 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  the  annual  income  of  which 
was  to  be  appropriated  for  this  purpose.  This  fund  was 
established  originally  by  the  members  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Agricultural  Club,  and  other  friends,  and  was  to 
revert  to  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society  after 
the  decease  of  Mr.  French  and  his  wife ;  which  have  both 
already  taken  place.  Mr.  French  was  much  interested 
in  the  improvement  of  rural  cemeteries,  especially  of 
Mount  Auburn,  which  from  the  first,  he  was  one  of  its 
earliest  friends  and  promoters. 

Hingham  was  much  interested  in  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil  and  the  improvement  of  fruits,  a  hundred 
years  ago.  Among  her  farmers  was  Benjamin  Lincoln, 
the  father  of  Gen.  Benjamin  Lincoln,  himself  a  farmer, 
who  under  the  favor  of  Washington  had  the  honor  of 
receiving  the  surrender  of  the  British  army  at  York- 
town  a  hundred  years  ago,  —  an  event  which  has  just 
been  celebrated  with  great  display  and  manifesta- 
tions of  public  rejoicing.  Early  in  this  century  the 
Herseys  and  Burrs  had  nurseries,  and  did  much  for 
horticulture ;  but  to  no  one  of  her  sons  is  she  so 
much  indebted  for  progress  in  terraculture  as  to  the- 
late  Albert  Fearing,  president  and  founder  of  its 
Agricultural  Society,  and  donor  of  the  Agricultural 
Hall  and  the  Free  Library  Hall.  Much  attention  has 
been  given  to  planting  of  shade  trees  on  the  streets, 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  77 

and  almost  every  house  has  its  garden  of  fruits  and 
flowers.  Its  beautiful  cemetery,  for  which  Dr.  R.  I.  P. 
Fiske  did  so  much  in  ornamental  culture,  is  still  further 
improved  by  Mr.  Todd.  Here  rest  the  remains  of  John 
Albion  Andrew,  the  "war  Governor"  and  friend  of 
human  freedom.  Nor  would  we  forget  that  Hingham 
is  still  the  home  of  the  venerable  Solomon  Lincoln, 
the  historian,  and  of  our  beloved  and  accomplished 
chief  magistrate,  Gov.  John  Davis  Long. 

A  history  of  our  horticulture  would  be  considered  as 
deficient  without  some  notice  of  the  literature  which 
has  been  connected  with  it,  and  as  agriculture  is  the 
mother  of  horticulture  it  is  natural  that  its  publications 
should  precede  it.  The  first  work  of  the  kind  published 
in  our  State  was  the  New  England  Farmer  or  Georgical 
Dictionary,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Deane,  in  1790.  Then 
came  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Repository,  1793; 
the  American  Gardener,  by  Thomas  Green  Fessenden, 
in  1822 ;  a  Treatise  on  the  Cultivation  of  Flowers,  by 
Roland  Greene,  in  1828 ;  and  the  Book  of  Fruits, 
by  Robert  Manning,  in  1838.  Subsequent  to  these, 
several  other  works  on  horticulture  and  agriculture,  as 
well  as  magazines  and  the  reports  of  societies  of  other 
States  and  from  foreign  lands  were  accessible  to  those 
who  sought  for  them.  Among  these  may  be  named 
the  Transactions  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Massachu- 
setts Societies  for  Promoting  Agriculture ;  Thacher's 
American  Orchardist,  of  1821 ;  The  New  England 
Farmer,  by  Thomas  Green  Fessenden,  in  ]822; 
The  New  American  Orchardist,  by  William  Kenrick ; 
The  Massachusetts  Ploughman ;  The  Boston  Cultiva- 
tor. But  it  was  not  until  the  establishment  of  the 
American  Gardener's  Magazine,  P.  B.  Hovey  and 
Charles  M.  Hovey,  editors,  in  1835,  that  a  regular 
publication  on  Horticulture  was  published  in  New  Eng- 


78  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

land.  Of  this  there  were  thirty-four  volumes  issued. 
Mr.  C.  M.  Hovey  published  his  Fruits  of  America 
in  two  elegant  volumes.  At  the  same  time  came  the 
Horticultural  Register,  by  Joseph  Breck,  and  his  popular 
Book  on  Flowers,  and  Tilton's  Journal  of  Horticulture, 
Robert  Manning,  editor.  To  these  may  be  added  a 
Treatise  on  the  Culture  of  the  Grape,  by  John  Fisk 
Allen ;  the  American  Fruit  Book,  by  Samuel  W.  Cole ; 
the  Culture  of  the  Grape,  by  William  C.  Strong,  and  the 
annual  reports  and  publications  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society,  with  its  extensive  and  magnifi- 
cent library,  which  is  acknowledged  by  all  to  be  one 
of  the  best  horticultural  libraries  in  the  world.  And 
in  this  connection  we  should  also  record  the  fact 
that  Horticultural  Hall  has  no  equal  in  elegance  and 
convenience  within  our  knowledge ;  and  to  crown  all, 
we  have  the  History  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticul- 
tural Society  for  its  first  half  century,  embodying 
much  of  the  history  and  progress  to  which  we  have 
alluded. 

Nor  can  we  close  this  chapter  without  recognizing 
with  gratitude  the  efforts  of  the  men  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Agriculture,  of  the  American  Pomological  Society, 
and  particularly  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  and  especially  the  labors  of  John  B.  Russell, 
the  only  survivor  of  those  mentioned  in  the  act  of 
incorporation,  who  also  established  the  first  general 
seed  store  in  Boston  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and 
has  devoted  a  long  life  to  the  promotion  of  horticul- 
tural science. 

Nor  would  we  refrain  from  noticing  the  influence 
wrhich  was,  primarily,  here  created  by  the  efforts  of 
our  first  settlers  in  promoting  the  higher  branches  of 
terraculture,  and  which  has  now  been  extended 


BOSTON   AND   VICINITY.  79 

wherever  the  foot  of  civilization  has  been  planted  on 
our  continent. 

Some  reference  should  also  be  made  to  the  amazing 
progress,  within  the  age  of  some  who  still  survive,  of 
agriculture,  of  which  horticulture  and  rural  art  are 
only  parts.  Nor  would  it  be  generous  or  truthful 
did  we  fail  to  record  the  fact  that  much  of  this  on- 
ward march  may  be  primarily  traced  to  Boston  and 
its  vicinity.  And  this  is  not  the  result  of  chance.  It 
is  the  natural  result  arising  from  the  teachings  of  such 
pioneers  as  I  have  alluded  to,  in  the  founding  of  insti- 
tutions like  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting 
Agriculture,  the  Horticultural  Society,  the  American 
Pomological  Society,  and  other  kindred  associations. 
How  astonishing  the  progress  in  our  own  day  !  It  is 
not  a  hundred  years  since  the  first  Agricultural  society 
was  formed  on  this  continent.  It  is  little  more  than 
fifty  years  since  the  first  Horticultural  society  was 
established  in  our  land.  Now  these  societies  are  scat- 
tered from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Dominion 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  numbering  nearly  two  thousand 
kindred  institutions,  all  actively  engaged  in  promoting 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  in  the  enrichment  of  its 
products. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  products  of  our  soil  were  scarcely 
thought  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  statistics  of  our  coun- 
try. Now  our  exports  of  these  amount  to  nearly  six 
hundred  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  our  western 
granaries  are  treasure  houses  upon  which  the  world  may 
draw  to  supply  deficiencies  elsewhere.  Then  the  supply 
of  fruits  in  our  market,  excepting  apples,  was  limited 
to  a  few  varieties  and  to  a  few  weeks  of  use.  Now  our 
markets  abound  with  fruits  for  all  seasons  of  the  year. 
Then  almost  the  only  strawberry  in  our  market  was  the 
wild  strawberrj^  of  the  field,  and  that  limited  to  a  short 


80  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

season.  Now  we  have  in  variety  these  delicious  fruits,  by 
the  facilities  of  transportation,  for  two  or  three  months, 
receiving  from  the  South  in  a  single  day  five  thousand 
bushels,  and  from  the  single  city  of  Norfolk,  in  Virginia, 
sixteen  thousand  bushels,  and  from  our  own  town  of 
Dighton  ten  thousand  bushels  in  a  year.  Then  not 
a  single  hybridized  fruit  of  the  strawberry  had  j^een 
produced,  so  far  as  we  know,  in  our  land  ;  now  so  great 
has  been  the  increase  in  this  period  that  my  register 
contains  the  names  of  nearly  four  hundred  kinds  of 
strawberries  that  have  been  under  cultivation  in  my 
day.  Then  there  were  no  American  grapes  cultivated 
in  our  gardens  except  here  and  there  a  vine  of  the  Ca- 
tawba  and  Isabella  ;  now  there  are  more  than  two  hun- 
dred varieties  of  American  grapes  in  cultivation,  and 
grapes  may  be  had  from  our  shops  during  more  than 
half  of  the  year ;  and  so  extensive  are  our  vineyards 
that,  in  addition  to  the  production  of  the  grape  for 
the  table,  California  alone  produces  ten  millions  of 
gallons  of  wine,  of  which  large  quantities  have  been 
exported  to  Europe,  South  America  and  Mexico,  some 
of  which  is  mulled  over  and  returned  for  consumption. 

Then  the  cultivation  of  the  pear  was  limited  to  a  few 
varieties,  since  which  the  gardens  of  Manning,  Hovey, 
the  writer  and  others  have  embraced  more  than  eight 
hundred  varieties  of  this  noble  fruit.  Then  no  exports 
of  fruit  of  any  note  had  been  made.  Now,  Boston 
alone  has  shipped  over  six  hundred  thousand  barrels  of 
apples  in  a  year,  and  the  export  of  fruit  from  this 
country  has  amounted  -to  nearly  three  millions  of  dol- 
lars in  a  year. 

Did  space  permit,  we  should  allude  to  the  wonderful 
exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural,  the 
American  Pomological,  and  other  societies.  Nor  can 
we  omit  to  mention  the  grand  improvement  in  orna- 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  81 

mental  culture  which  has  taken  place  in  our  own  vicinity 
during  this  period.  Then  we  had  no  such  splendid 
villas  and  grounds  as  Messrs.  Hun ne well's,  Payson's, 
Sargent's,  Gray's,  Hayes's  and  others,  which  are  sucli 
an  honor  to  our  Commonwealth  and  country. 

We  should  also  record  the  fact,  in  connection  with 
the  , history  of  horticulture,  that  although  we  live  in 
a  comparatively  cold  and  uncongenial  clime,  and  labor 
under  great  disadvantages,  yet  the  enterprise,  energy, 
and  perseverance  of  our  cultivators,  has  more  than  coun- 
terbalanced all  obstacles,  and  compels  our  reluctant  soils 
to  yield  rich  rewards  for  our  toil.  Horticulture  as  an 
art  is  carried  to  as  high  a  state  of  perfection  here  as  in 
any  other  part  of  our  country,  and  we  delight  to  repeat 
this  sentiment,  so  happily  expressed  by  our  poet  Holmes : 

"So  on  our  rude  and  wintry  soil 

We  feed  the  kindling  flame  of  art, 

And. steal  the  tropics'  blushing  spoil 

To  bloom  on  Nature's  icy  heart." 

Another  strong  evidence  of  improved  taste  is  the 
establishment  and  adornment  of  our  Cemeteries. 
Mount  Auburn  at  Cambridge,  Forest  Hills  at  Roxbury, 
and  Woodlawn  at  Chelsea,  are  happy  illustrations  of 
refined  taste  and  culture.  The  neglected  and  gloomy 
resting-places  of  the  dead,  which  once  cast  horror  and 
terror  on  the  minds  of  children,  and  even  those  of 
older  years,  are  fast  giving  way  to  the  shady  retreats 
and  sylvan  scenes  of  the  garden  and  forest.  Where 
formerly  only  decaying  grass,  tangled  weeds,  and  moss- 
covered  tablets  were  generally  to  be  seen,  may  now  be 
witnessed  beautiful  sites,  natural  scenery,  and  embel- 
lished lots,  that  awaken  sensations  which  no  language 
can  describe,  —  where  the  meandering  path  leads 
to  the  spot  in  which  rest  the  remains  of  the  loved 
and  lost,  —  where  the  rustling  pine  mournfully  sighs 


82  TDE   HORTICULTURE    OF 

in  the  passing  breeze,  the  willow  weeps  in  respon- 
sive grief,  and  Avhere  the  evergreen,  breathing  in 
perennial  life,  is  a  fit  emMem  of  those  celestial  fields 
where  the  leaf  shall  never  wither,  and  the  flower 
never  fade. 

The  general  use  of  flowers,  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  affords  striking  proofs  of  a  high  state  of  civili- 
zation and  refinement.  Within  our  own  recollection, 
the  use  of  flowers  at  funerals  or  in  the  sanctuary  was 
deemed  improper  with  the  sanctity  of  divine  worship. 

These  have  been  too  often  considered  as  the  mere 
superfluities  of  life,  but  the  more  we  are  brought  into 
communion  with  them,  the  more  will  our  souls  be  in- 
spired with  gratitude  to  Him  who  clothes  the  fields 
with  floral  gems  scarcely  less  brilliant  than  the  glitter- 
ing host  above.  Nor  can  we  too  highly  appreciate 
that  wisdom  and  benevolence  which  surrounds  us  with 
these  beautiful  manifestations  of  perfection  and  glory, 

"  Mingled  and  made  by  love  to  one  great  end." 

But  horticulture  includes  more  than  the  finest  fruits 
or  flowers,  or  the  neatest  and  most  skilful  cultivation. 

From  the  time  of  the  heathen  mythologists,  and  the 
wise  King  Solomon  when  u  he  made  orchards  and  gar- 
dens, and  planted  all  kinds  of  fruits,"  the  praises  of  the 
garden  have  been  perpetuated  through  all  ages. 
From  scenes  in  the  garden,  from  Eden  to  Geth- 
semane,  have  been  drawn  the  most  exalted  and 
sublime  conceptions,  the  most  sacred  and  divine 
communings  that  have  ever  moved  the  heart  of 
man  —  the  garden  where  man  may  commune  with  its 
Maker  and  admire  the  beauty  and  glory  of  His  works. 
"The  garden,"  says.  Lord  Bacon,  u  is  the  purest  of 
human  pleasures,  and  the  greatest  refreshment  to  the 
spirit  of  man,  without  which  buildings  and  palaces  are 


BOSTON    AND    VICINITY.  83 

but  gross  handiworks."  "No  one,"  said  Daniel  Web- 
ster, "  is  too  polished  to  see  its  beauty,  nothing  too 
refined  to  be  capable  of  its  enjoyment.  It  is  a  con- 
stant field  where  taste  and  refinement  may  find  oppor- 
tunity for  gratification."  Said  Mr.  Winthrop  :  "  Horti- 
culture is  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense,  one  of  the 
fine  arts  of  common  life.  It  distributes  its  productions 
with  equal  hand  to  the  rich  and  the  poor.  It  decorates 
the  dwelling  of  the  humblest  laborer  with  undoubted 
originals  by  the  oldest  masters,  and  places  within  his 
daily  view  fruit  pieces  such  as  Van  Huysum  never 
painted,  and  landscapes  such  as  Poussin  could  only 
copy." 

So  thought  Cyrus  when  he  boasted  of  having  planted 
his  trees  with  his  own  hands;  so  Maxiniillian,  "If  you 
could  see  the  fruits  I  cultivate  with  my  own  hand,  you 
would  not  talk  to  me  of  empire."  And  so  thought  our 
own  Pickering,  Lowell,  Colman,  Dearborn,  Downing, 
and  others  of  our  own  time,  who  have  retired  from  the 
scenes  of  city  life  that  they  might  enjoy  the  rich  gifts 
which  bounteous  nature  bestows  on  the  culture  of  the 
soil. 

Thus  we  have,  as  briefly  as  possible,  traced  the  his- 
tory and  progress  of  the  horticulture  of  Boston  and 
its  vicinity  for  the  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
from  the  time  when  William  Blaxton  planted  his 
orchard  on  our  Capitoline  Hill,  —  from  the  time  when 
Endicott,  Winthrop,  and  the  colonists  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  brought  with  them  the  seeds  and  stones  from 
which,  primarily,  arose  the  taste  for  fine  fruits,  beauti- 
ful flowers,  and  the  ornamental  culture  which  has  made 
our  region  so  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  terracul- 
ture.  Slowly,  but  positively,  has  this  taste  been 
gradually  improving,  until  Boston  and  its  vicinity 
have  become  beautiful  and  eminent  for  horticultural 


84  THE    HORTICULTURE    OF 

progress,  a  progress  which  has  been  for  the  last  fifty 
years  wonderful.  Fruits  which  were  then,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century  considered  as  good, 
have  no  place  in  our  gardens  or  in  our  catalogues 
now.  Well  do  we  remember  the  time  when  there 
was  no  other  strawberry  or  native  grape  except  the 
wild  varieties,  not  a  Black  Tartarian  nor  Downer 
cherry,  not  a  Bartlett,  Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  or 
Beurre  d'Anjou  pear,  not  a  forced  fruit  or  flower 
from  the  hot-house  for  sale  in  our  market,  and  not 
a  shop  for  the  sale  of  flowers  in  our  city.  And 
although  we  may  regret  the  loss  of  the  numerous  fine 
gardens  which  once  graced  our  city,  sparkling  like  gems 
on  the  breast  of  beauty,  we  are  more  than  compen- 
sated for  the  loss  by  the  wide-spread  interest  which 
now  pervades  our  land,  and  furnishes  us  daily  with 
fruits  and  flowers  fit  to  grace  the  table  of  a  king. 

Our  fine  gardens  have  been  supplanted  by  temples 
of  commerce,  manufactures,  science,  literature,  and 
religion.  But  however  great  the  fame  of  old  Boston 
may  be  for  her  benevolent  institutions,  however  re- 
nowned she  may  become  for  other  attainments,  we 
believe  she  will  be  gratefully  remembered  for  her  lead 
in  the  science  of  the  soil,  and  that,  through  all  coming 
time,  the  history  of  Boston  horticulture  will  be  fragrant 
with  the  memories  of  the  past,  and  we  fondly  hope 
that- 

"  The  scent  of  the  roses  will  hang  round  it  still." 

In  the  beauty  and  often  gorgeous  array  of  flowers, 
we  have  presented  to  us  the  striking  and  sublimely 
impressive  fact  that  there  is  more  of  richness  and 
variety  in  these  growths,  with  110  utilitarian  purpose 
except  to  minister  to  delight,  than  in  all  the  so-called 
products  of  Nature.  It  is  as  if  its  Great  Author  and 


BOSTON   AND    VICINITY.  85 

Designer  proclaimed  to  us,  that  after  the  use  of  all  the 
original  elements,  for  every  need  of  man  and  beast, — 
for  sustenance,  clothing  and  shelter,  —  there  was  a  rich 
surplus  to  be  turned  to  the  gentle  and  loving  service 
of  refining  tastes  and  innocent  joys. 


THIS   BOOK   IS   DUE  ON   THE  LAST   DATE 
STAMPED   BELOW 


BOOKS   REQUESTED  BY  ANOTHER  BORROWER 
ARE  SUBJECT  TO   IMMEDIATE   RECALL 


UCO  LIBRARY 


APR  13  1391  REID 

UCD  LIBRARY 
flUEJUN  3  0  1992 


LIBRARY,   UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-Series  458 


Pressboard 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gaylord  Bros. 

Makers 
Stockton,  Calif, 

PAT.  JAN.  21.  1908 


Call  Number: 

SB85 

M4 

W5 


Marshall  Pinckney 


The  Horticulture 

of  Boston  and  Vicini 


